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ECCE DEUS 



ESSAYS ON THE 



Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ. 



WITH CONTROVERSIAL NOTES 



'ECCE HOMO." 



BOSTON: 
ROBERTS BROTHERS. 

1868. 



J37za/ 



A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. 

Exchange 

Augustana College Lfby. 

Sept. 28 1934 



PREFACE. 



A careful consideration of the various points 
raised in Ecce Homo induced the present writer to 
undertake a re-survey of the Life and Doctrine of 
Jesus Christ. He found, however, that he could not 
occupy the stand-point from which Ecce Homo had 
been written without, as it appeared to him, ignoring 
the mystery of the Incarnation, and thus putting 
himself into a false relation to all subsequent facts 
in Christian history. The following pages will show 
that on several points the writer finds himself in 
perfect coincidence with the author of Ecce Homo; 
and he ventures to believe that on those points upon 
which the differences are irreconcilable he has not 
been betrayed into- a- tone .which, is inconsistent with 
the respect due to the finest genius and the frankest 
candor. In the following pages the writer proceeds 
upon four convictions : — 

First : That it is not merely difficult, but absolute- 
ly impossible, rightly to survey the Life and Work 
of Jesus Christ without distinctly acknowledging the 
unprecedented conditions under which Jesus Christ 
became incarnate. 

Second : That those conditions can alone account 
for, and are essential to a true interpretation of, the 



6 PREFACE. 

entire doctrine and phenomena associated with the 
name of Jesus Christ. 

Third : That those conditions and the whole course 
which they inaugurated (the miraculous conception, 
the doctrine, the miracle, the death and the resur- 
rection), constitute a unity which necessitates the con- 
clusion that Jesus Christ was God Incarnate. And — 

Fourth : That the author of Ecce Homo, having 
overlooked or ignored those conditions, has worked 
from a wrong centre, and reached several sophistical 
and untenable conclusions. 

It appears from his Preface that the author of Ecce 
Homo felt himself obliged to trace Christ's " biog- 
raphy from point to point, and accept those conclu- 
sions about him, not which Church doctors or even 
apostles have sealed with their authority, but which 
the facts themselves, critically weighed, appear to 
warrant." The present writer does not undertake 
to suggest that Church doctors and apostles did not 
critically weigh the facts themselves ; but he does 
undertake to say that no weighing of the facts can be 
satisfactory which ignores the fact which lies at the 
base of the Christian structure. Nor does he see how 
the author of Ecce Homo can trace the biography of 
Jesus Christ " from point to point," when he only 
professes to " place himself in imagination at the time 
when he whom we call Christ bore no such name, 
but was simply .... a young man of prom'se, 
popular with those who knew him, and appearing to 
enjoy the Divine favor." How can a biography be 
traced " from point to point " when the " critical 
weighing of the facts themselves" does not begin 



PREFACE. 7 

until the subject of the biography has actually attained 
a " promising" and "popular position"? If a biog- 
raphy is to be traced from " point to point," how can 
it be done without referring to the birth, if not to the 
ancestry, of the person whose biography is traced? 
Suppose that a writer should undertake to trace from 
point to point the biography of the author of Ecce 
Homo, would the author, or would the public, be 
satisfied if the writer did not open the narrative earlier 
than the time of the appearance of that book? Yet 
this is what the author of Ecce Homo does with the 
biography of Jesus Christ, and with this disadvantage 
on his part, that he overlooks a fact without which all 
the succeeding facts never could have transpired. No 
" young man of promise, popular with those who 
knew him, and appearing to enjoy the Divine favor" 
(and there have been tens of thousands of such young 
men), ever did what Jesus Christ did ; a fact which, 
" critically weighed/' certainly suggests the necessity 
of going farther back than the time of "promise" and 
" popularity," in order to find out whether there was a 
reason explanatory of the whole series of phenomena. 
The embarrassment of the present writer was con- 
siderably increased by another expression in the 
Preface to Ecce Homo: — -"After reading a good 
many books on Christ, he felt still constrained to 
confess that there was no historical character whose 
motives, objects, and feelings remained so incompre- 
hensible to him. The inquiry which has proved use- 
ful to himself may chance to be useful to others." 
How the author could diminish the incomprehensible- 
ness of Christ's life by simply regarding Christ as " a 



8 PREFACE. 

young man of promise, popular with those who knew 
him, and appearing to enjoy the Divine favor," does 
not appear. The present writer is " constrained to 
confess" that, in proportion as he regards Jesus Christ 
in this light merely, the Life as narrated in the New 
Testament becomes utterly ^comprehensible. Not 
until he realizes the fundamental fact of the Incarna- 
tion does he understand the sense in which Jesus 
Christ calls himself Son of God and Son of Man. 

The present writer felt the difficulty of choosing a 
title for his book. It seemed to him that if the author 
of Ecce Homo intended to maintain the Godhead of 
Jesus Christ, it would not be unnatural for him to 
select the title of Ecce Deus; on this point, however, 
he was of course not informed, and he adopted the 
present name because it expresses most concisely the 
doctrine which is taught in the book. 

Ecce Deus is not a reply to Ecce Homo. It claims 
to be an examination of the Life and Doctrine of 
Jesus Christ conducted on independent ground. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE 

I. The Holy Thing 13 

II. The Written Word 24 

III. The Written Word {continued) . . 38 

IV. The Inauguration 46 

V. The Inauguration : the Diabolic 

Phase 53 

VI. The Mighty Works ...... 66 

VII. The Calling of Men 84 

VIII. Christ rejecting Men 103 

IX. The Church 119 

X. The Church left in the World . 140 
XI. Christ adjusting Human Relations 156 
XII. Christ the Contemporary of all 

Ages 173 

XIII. These Sayings of Mine 190 

XIV. Christ as an Interlocutor . . . 207 
XV. Eternal Punishments 219 

(ii) 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE. 

XVI. The Cross of Christ 240 

XVII. The Relation of the Cross to 

the Law . 262 

XVIII. The Relation of the Cross to 

Practical Morals 283 

XIX. The Posthumous Ministry of Jesus 

Christ . . 316 

XX. Contrvoersial Notes on " Ecce 

Homo " 328 



ECCE DEUS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE HOLY THING. 

MANY false Christs have gone out into the world. 
The Christ that was born in Bethlehem has now 
to compete with the Christ born in the poet's fancy, 
carved out of an ideal humanity, or developed out of 
a benevolent sentiment. This noble, simple Nazarene 
has been left behind somewhere, probably in the Tem- 
ple, or has passed through so many guises that the 
characteristic lineaments have been lost. This cir- 
cumstance is a significant feature of the spiritual civil- 
ization of the day. Deepest and truest among its 
lessons is the doctrine that men must have a Christ. 
There has ever been a motion, a gravitation, more or 
less palpable, towards a man who should be the com- 
plement of every other man ; and who, by the perfect- 
ness of his manhood, should be able to restore and 
preserve the equipoise which universal consciousness 
affirms to have been disturbed or lost. 

The Incarnation is the radical mystery in the life of 
the Christ accepted by the Church. Without follow- 
ing the theologian into doctrine, we are bound to fol- 
low the historian into matters of fact. The historian 

(13) 



14 ECCE DEUS. 

introduces a man, under the name of Jesus, who was 
begotten as no other man was ever begotten. He does 
not represent the usual conditions of human birth, but 
stands alone among all men. The mysteriousness of 
his origin, even if it be but a supposition, will supply 
an easily available test of his entire life and teaching ; 
the man who begins as no other man ever began, must 
continue as no other man ever continued. 

In other senses than that of the procreation of human 
life, there have been miraculous conceptions in every 
age — conceptions by the overshadowing of the Holy 
Ghost too. Every foremost thought of God among 
men, every struggle of the soul in the direction in which 
God is supposed to have gone, has been an effect of 
divine operation upon the mind. In Jesus Christ alone 
have we a life which claims to have been produced 
immediately by a superhuman relation to the human 
body. Yet, though so produced, "the holy thing" 
born of the Virgin did not collide with the human 
race as an unexpected antagonistic element, but took 
his place in the human family by a process which, on 
one side, was fitted to awaken awe, and on the other, 
to excite sympathy. The world of the East had been 
accustomed to what may be termed miraculous con- 
ceptions in the intellectual sphere, as the world of the 
West has since become. Intellectual history presents 
a succession of births quite, in their degree and ac- 
cording to their nature, as inexplicable as any occur- 
rence that could transpire in the merely material 
sphere. " The Holy Ghost has come upon, and the 
power of the Highest has overshadowed," all who 
have wrought upon the springs of civilization and en- 



THE HOLY THING. 15 

riched the resources of human life : poem and picture, 
book and statue, that have touched the world's soul, 
and given it any hint that there was a portion of the 
universe beyond the narrow visual line, or a deeper 
life in itself than could be sustained by bread alone, 
have been, notwithstanding the apparent irreverence 
of the expression, miraculous conceptions, fruits of 
the Spirit's strife with the human mind. The Spirit 
had to move upon intellectual chaos, and now all 
orderliness, or beauty, or music ; is attributable to his 
power. The grim spectre of traditional orthodoxy 
may shudder at the notion, yet rather than pronounce 
the genius of civilization atheistic, it may be more 
reverent to describe it as a conception and produc- 
tion of the divine energy operating through human 
instrumentalities. The excess of difficulty is on the 
side of atheism, not of inspiration. On such a subject 
men are not required to be more orthodox than the 
Bible itself. Moses hesitated not to say that the Lord 
had called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son 
of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and had " filled him with 
the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and 
in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, and 
to devise curious works ; to work in gold and in silver 
and in brass, and in the cutting c f stones to set them ? 
and in carving of wood to make any manner of cun- 
ning work." Art is thus set among the miraculous 
conceptions, and civilization is robed as a worshipper 
in the outer court of the Temple. Stih we have not a 
man who claims, in a peculiar sense, '.c have God's 
life in his veins. We have seen Go d i* *r< r , can we 
see God in blood? 



l6 ECCE DEUS. 

It is important to remember, what one would have 
thought could never have been forgotten, that there is 
a document written by many scribes, which professes 
to be an authentic history of a Man who openly 
claimed to have been begotten by the Holy Ghost. 
How can we test the validity of such a claim? With- 
out inquiring whether there are any other ways, there 
is certainly this simple and effectual plan : Is the mys- 
tery of the life consistent with the alleged mystery of 
the origin ? Is the doctrine consistent with the birth ? 
If the man be found to be in perfect accord with the 
mystery, — in proportion, so to speak, to it ; if there 
be no break in the rhythm between the " sayings " of 
the teacher and the alleged revelation of the angel who 
foretold his birth, then this unity of mystery becomes 
itself an argument which compels certain conclusions. 
If, on the other hand, the phenomena of the birth and 
the tone of the doctrine be discrepant ; if the cloud of 
mystery has been employed to conceal defect of stat- 
ure, then the claim to have been begotten by the Holy 
Ghost is not only unsupported, but positively contra- 
dicted. The present inquiry will revert again and 
again to the consistency between the declared divinity 
of the fatherhood and the teaching of Him who was 
begotten. 

Omnipotence covers the whole ground of difficulty 
as to the possibility of such a conception as is claimed 
on behalf of Jesus Christ. No argument, therefore, 
need be started in defence of that side of the question. 
Given the existence of God, and the power required 
to bring out the alleged result will be granted too ; 
defect of power would be defect of Godhead, and 



THE HOLY THING. 1 7 

defect of Godhead is an absurdity. Yet the entire 
Christ, so to speak, coming from God without human 
interposition, would have increased the difficulty of 
his acceptance among men. We can see how a union 
between the divine and human would have many ad- 
vantages. If the Man spoke the language of earth 
with the accent of heaven ; if he encouraged men by 
his common human nature to approach him, and then 
gave them assurance that the human enshrined the 
divine, he would complete by his power what he had 
begun by his weakness. This much we can see merely 
as an argument, without conceding that the facts which 
are yet to be collated bear it out. Are there any traces 
of duality in Christ's life and teaching? Anything that 
would confirm his claim to have descended from 
heaven? On the very face of the life there are many 
such traces ; and in a more subtle and incidental way, 
there are hints and testimonies which should be scru- 
tinized and estimated. We find Christ in the midst 
of a great multitude, and then he goes no man know- 
ing whither ; he sends his disciples to buy food, and 
then tells them that he has meat to eat which they 
know not of; in the very act of talking to a man, he 
says that he is in heaven ; he is willing to be identified 
as the Son of Mary, yet never speaks of any father but 
God ; he is known to have had no opportunities of 
technical learning, yet his wisdom is acknowledged by 
the doctors of the law ; he submits to the fury of the 
ruffian band, yet talks of the legions of angels who 
wait but his prayer. All through we have these clual- 
istic turns of speech — one part of the sentence plain, 
the other haloed with strange glory or lost in gloom. 



l8 ECCE DEUS. 

This is a mere matter of fact, as found upon the face 
of the document which professes to contain the life of 
Jesus Christ. All this any sceptic would say, in com- 
mon with any Christian. So far the matter is literary, 
not theological. Still there is an outline of an argu- 
ment shaping itself from this view. The argument 
of consistency takes its inception at this point. 

The so-called discrepancies on matters of fact, which 
some readers have professed to find upon a collation 
of the fourfold narrative, are less than nothing. His- 
tory can never be written. It can only be hinted at, 
and most dimly outlined from the particular stand-point 
which the historian has chosen to occupy. It is only 
by courtesy that any man can be called an historian. 
Seldom do men so flatly contradict each other as upon 
points of fact. Incompleteness marks all narrations. 
No man can fully write even his own life. On re- 
viewing the sheets which were to have told everything, 
the autobiographer is struck with their reticence and 
poverty. Two processes are synchronous in the act of 
writing, the process of the pen, and the process of the 
mind ; and because the mind sees the subject in all its 
magnitude and bearings, it considers itself rather than 
the reader, who approaches the question from an out- 
side point. Men cannot print tones, glances, sighs, or 
tears. The heart always suffers by being translated 
into speech. Readers bring their own methods of 
reading, and often the book which is essentially musi- 
cal is dishonored by a vitiated articulation. The life 
of Christ has suffered much in the same way. It suf- 
fered by being written at all, and that it has outlived 
its suffering is one of the firmest proofs that there is a 



THE HOLY THING. 



IO » 



divine spirit in the earthly words. The life is before 
us in fragments only, and the most that we can do is to 
inquire whether the fragments lie in one direction, 
bear any evidence of having been cut out of the same 
rock, or testify to anything like unity of purpose. 

It must be remembered that Jesus Christ had been 
the absorbing theme of all ages prior to his advent. 
This circumstance alone marks him off from all other 
men. The hope of his coming had kept society to- 
gether, preserving it from intellectual and moral anni- 
hilation. When Christ came, long chapters of proph- 
ecy w T ere to be closed like gates through which a 
king or conqueror had passed. In Christ the prayers 
of many ages were to be answered. The prophecies 
respecting him were marked by that strange dualism 
which attached to his life : taken separately as mere 
statements of fact they are contradictory, but looked at 
in the light of the dual nature which he claimed there 
is immediate and perfect reconciliation. The great 
paradoxes of prophecy were harmonized in the greater 
paradox of the life. Christ was " a root out of a dry 
ground," yet he was " the flower of Jesse and the plant 
of renown ; " he was " despised and rejected of men," 
yet he was " the desire of all nations ; " he was " with- 
out form and comeliness," yet he was " the fairest 
among ten thousand, and altogether lovely ; " he was 
"the Child," yet he was "the Ancient of Days." 
Thus we are detained on the same line of mystery. 
Prophecy and fulfilment are different phases of the 
same paradox. The range of evidence is thus ex- 
tended, so that any man claiming to be Christ must be 
brought for judgment to the standard of prophecy. 



20 ECCE DEUS. 

This fact does much to clear the field of intruders, and 
to narrow the ground of competition. Christ distinct- 
1}' threw himself upon prophecy, and challenged scribe 
and doctor and rabbi to " search the Scriptures." 
There was no wish to escape the test of written predic- 
tion, but a determination to abide by a careful search 
of the records which were regarded as having been 
received immediately from God. He began at Moses 
and all the prophets, and showed from all the Scrip- 
tures the things concerning himself. No challenge 
could be bolder. He stood at the close of the great 
prophetic dispensation and said, " the prophets wrote 
of me," and looking forward to the evolutions of time 
and tracing the course of religious education and 
development, he commanded that his name should be 
taught in " all nations." It was not, then, on some 
recondite and insignificant point that Christ claimed 
his position in the world, but on the broad ground of 
completed prophecy. He was the fruit which was to 
be produced by the roots of promise and hope which 
God had from the beginning put into the hearts of 
men. He closed the troubled era of prophecy, and 
opened a most gorgeous apocalypse, which took i. 
power and glory entirely from his own name. If any 
challenge could have developed a rival, or brought 
into prominence the lawful heir of the heritage de- 
scribed by the prophets, this would have done so. An 
unlearned man addressing the sages of his time, svho 
held the first literature of the world — not only un- 
learned but garbed as a peasant, poor in his known 
ancestry, and unsupported by any visible authority — 
said, l Open your scrolls and read the prediction of my 



THE HOLY THING. 21 

person and power ; consult the prophets, and see if I 
bear not the hitherto mis-read signs of Messiahship ; 
recall the music of the minstrels of Israel, and say 
whether my heart be not in accord with their rhythm.' 
This made it hard work for an impostor. The empiric 
may have brilliant visions of the future, but it is peril- 
ous for him to challenge his contemporaries to go far 
back in search of his ancestral roots. The case as 
laid down in the biographic document compels us to 
go beyond Bethlehem if we would understand the 
purpose of the birth. We have hardly turned the first 
page of the Bible until we feel that a new and marvel- 
lous element has been interjected into the history of 
man, which gives life and tone and purpose to the 
whole current of earthly affairs. The generations are 
centralized in one idea. From Abraham to David, 
from David to the carrying away into Babylon, and 
from Babylon until Herod reigned in Judea, there is a 
life far below the surface. From behind the prophetic 
veil, or through it, there glows the image of a man, 
stranger to everybody yet friendly to all. A marvel- 
lous image it is, so indistinct yet so positive ; gentle, 
yet carrying awful power, as the summer cloud carries 
lightning ; very near, yet distant as the unseen God. 
We feel this in coming along the biblical line ; feel 
that almost at any moment a Man might stand up in 
the very likeness and majesty of God ; and a strange, 
fascinating spell binds the reader, until having passed 
the prophecies he comes to the Star, and the Virgin, 
and the Child. That Child had been the mystery of 
all his reading ; there, in infant life, lay the explana- 
tion, itself a mystery, of all the tumultuous events and 



22 ECCE DEUS. 

hopeful promises which made up the sum of prophetic 
history. We cannot understand the Child without at 
least recognizing that it is alleged that he came up 
from unbeginning time to express, audibly and visibly, 
what otherwise could never have been known of God. 

The opening chapter of the Gospels is more than a 
catalogue of names. It is the Old Testament sum- 
marized ; it is human history in miniature ; an assem- 
bly of the Past convened to witness the birth of " the 
holy thing, called the Son of God." We go through 
the list to the manger-cradle, and the heart saddens at 
more than one point in this illustrious succession ; 
strange threads have been woven into this web ; — the 
patriarch is here, and the king ; the pure woman and 
the dissolute man ; eldest sons, and sons younger than 
their brethren ; names which make men proud of man- 
hood, and names we would " willingly let die." Mar- 
vellous pedigree, indeed ! It will surely be a great 
risk to attempt to get out of this mass a Man who w r ill 
stand firm in all crises. The world has already lost 
one Adam, may it not lose another? In the case of 
the federal man the reading was brief and simple : we 
had the Creator and the creature at one sentence ; we 
moved at one step from God to Adam. In this second 
case, we have to proceed from Adam to God. In 
Genesis, the work was easy ; in Matthew, it seems as 
if through such a mass we could never find the prom- 
ised Life. We wonder at what point of so desolate 
a Horeb God will fix his tabernacle of fire. 

We are bound to consider the value of the fact that 
Christ throws himself upon the past ; he chooses his 
own tribunal, and it is one to which no Jew at least 



THE HOLY THING. 23 

could object. Looking at the subject generally, this 
much is clear — that the mystery of the birth is in 
keeping with the mystery of the prophecy, and it now 
remains to be seen whether the mystery of the doctrine 
is in harmony with both. Whatever a fuller examina- 
tion may disclose, there is before us, even so far, a 
great breadth of homogeneous mystery, — unique, un- 
broken, unparalleled. Any discrepancy here would 
vitiate the whole succession. No lapse of time, no 
combination of circumstances, can repair an error at 
this point. A well-known rule in law will hold good 
here : " Quod initio vitiosum est, tractu temporis con- 
valescere non potest." If Christ is to command our 
confidence, he must continue to be what his claim to 
the prophetic past, and the alleged preternatural con- 
ditions of his incarnation, necessitate. A common 
man cannot be tolerated after so uncommon a be- 
ginning. If he be only a young man of high and most 
ambitious spirit, he has chosen a most perilous course, 
a course which must break down somewhere. It can- 
not be an easy task hypocritically to represent God 
upon the earth, without now and again letting the 
mask slip aside. How can the finite steadily carry the 
Infinite, when the Infinite is at w 7 ar with him ? Christ 
must be more than a good man, or worse than the 
worst man. If he be not God, he is the enemy of God. 



2 4 



CHAPTER II. 

THE WRITTEN WORD. 

THERE is a document which claims to be authen- 
tic, and which certainly comes before the world 
as no other book does. The Book claims to have had 
an origin as mysterious as the birth of Christ, — com- 
bining the human and divine. The hand is man's, the 
voice is God's. While this Christian document is 
before us, we are not called upon to write a life of 
Christ, but to interpret a life that is written, or to show 
cause for rejecting the document. Our relation to the 
document should be first ascertained. Are we to 
reserve the right of discrimination in reading the 
documentary evidence ? If so, by what law, or under 
what conditions, is the discriminative faculty to be 
regulated ? To receive the book just as it stands would 
be simply an exercise of faith ; to adopt an eclectic 
course, would involve the rendering of reasons for 
abandoning the immemorial orthodoxy of the Church. 
No doubt the Book is often thought of in a narrow 
and even unreasoning way by its admirers. Certainly, 
it is so sparing in details, as apparently to leave much 
of life unprovided for. It does not occupy a tenth part 
of the ground traversed by Plato, who, in connection 
with many lofty speculations, discoursed concerning 
lands and dwellings, hunting and fishing, cemeteries, 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 25 

monuments, and epitaphs, family quarrels and injury 
to property, rhetoric and geometry, with a thousand 
other subjects. Compared with this elaborate treat- 
ment of nearly all questions, the statements of the 
Christian writings are exceedingly bald and poor ; yet 
there may be more in those writings than in all the 
tomes of philosophy. God's first book, the book of 
nature, apparently leaves much of life unprovided for ; 
yet as men acquire skill to turn over the ponderous 
pages, they find that every want has been anticipated. 
Adam would hardly know the world of which he was 
the first occupant ; yet the primal forces and character- 
istics of nature are just the same as when he kept 
the garden of Eden. Modern civilization can hardly 
understand how men could subsist in ancient times, 
yet the earth abideth forever without appendix or 
supplement. What was wanting, was the faculty of 
interpretation. Men saw the water, but could not 
interpret it into steam ; they saw the lightning, but 
mistook it for an enemy ; they saw the sun, but could 
not fully interpret all he signified by the eloquence of 
light. The human power of interpretation grows ; 
yet after it has grown, it often forgets both the process 
and the fact. The volume of nature is precisely to- 
day as God published it ; but the latter readers are 
more sharp-sighted and inquisitive than the former. 
Civilization becomes wiser, keener, more ambitious 
and inclusive, year by year. Men were partly afraid, 
partly unable, to decipher the writing of nature ; they 
read the illuminated title, and settled down into con- 
tentment or indifference ; as if when " God finished the 
heavens and the earth," he also finished all the uses 
2 



26 ECCE PEUS. 

and applications to which future ages would be dis- 
posed to put them. 

The Christian writings abound in seminal ideas ; 
they are full of beginnings. The outlines are many, 
but there are no finished pictures. The value of those 
writings may be best represented by the term Life, 
We know they are inspired, because they are inspiring. 
The living man is the best confirmation of the living 
book. This book is not a plumb-line by which to test 
the perpendicularity of a wall ; it is a living spirit, 
quickening and regulating spirits capable of illimitable 
development. With infinite appropriateness, there- 
fore, it cioses with an apocalypse, — not with a final 
line, but with prophecies of a future which shall 
eclipse the splendor of all earlier light. The Old 
Testament closed with a prophecy; the New Testa- 
ment culminates in a revelation. The New Testa- 
ment is only the beginning of books ; not a finished 
and sealed document, according to popular notions of 
finality, but the beginning of a literature punctuated 
and paragraphed by tears and laughter, by battle and 
pestilence, and all the changes of a tumultuous yet 
progressive civilization. The Apocalypse looks to- 
wards the future with ten thousand eager and glowing 
eyes. What if that apocalypse be fulfilling under our 
own observation, and Christ be saying to us, " Ye 
hypocrites, ye can discern the signs of the sky ; how is 
it ye cannot discern the signs of the times M ? 

God is, so to speak, issuing ever-enlarging editions 
of the New Testament — so rapidly, indeed, that the 
world itself can hardly contain the books. Though 
we no longer know Christ after the flesh, yet we walk 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 



27 



with him in the holy sanctuary of the spirit ; and from 
among the golden candlesticks, he throws out all the 
rays by which we read to-day's story and to-morrow's 
apocalypse. He is still " the light of the world," and 
still there is about him all the mystery of light. The 
light which reveals the landscape, needs itself to be 
revealed ; so paradoxical is nature, like nature's God, 
that we are dependent for revelation upon what is 
itself a mystery ! If we have ceased to know any of 
the facts of the Book — its temples, sacrifices, wash- 
ings, oblations, and miracles — it is because we have 
come to a deeper sympathy with its spirit. We have 
now transcended the use of the grammar and the lexi- 
con, except for the most rudimentary and initial pur- 
poses. We are not now entirely dependent upon the 
scribe, but by a divinely regulated instinct we know 
the hand and the voice of God. Our faith cannot be 
broken down by a misspelt word or a mistaken date ; 
the heart is enthroned as arbiter, and it knows the 
" going " of the divine step. 

No doubt the Book does contain contradictions more 
or less real. So does the book of nature. The desert 
contradicts the garden ; the storm contradicts the calm ; 
summer and winter are utterly discordant ; one plant 
grows poison, another is impregnated with healing 
juices ; the savage beast and the creature of gentle 
blood face each other in the contradictory book of 
nature. The world is full of contradiction, and an 
intolerably insipid world it would be but for its anom- 
alies. Every man is his own contradiction. In ten 
years, a growing man will throw off many tastes, 
companionships, and habits, which to-day are pleasant 



28 ECCE DEUS. 

to him. There is nothing without an element of con* 
tradiction but death, and death itself is the great con- 
tradiction of God. Human maxims and policies are 
continually at strife. Out of contradiction comes educa- 
tion. But what is contradiction? Not lying, neces- 
sarily — not even opposition, absolutely ; contradiction 
may simply mean incompleteness, or may arise from 
ellipsis. Two gases may mutually antagonize, yet 
may be held altogether by a third. Two statements 
may be discrepant, until a missing link is supplied. 
A man may pursue two divergent courses of conduct, 
yet may hold his integrity without a breach ; when 
smitten on one cheek he may turn the other, and yet 
he may rebuke an offending brother ; he may judge no 
man, yet he may refuse to cast his pearls before swine, 
or give that which is holy unto the dogs : this sup- 
posed contradictoriness he has learned of Jesus Christ, 
who, though he had not where to lay his head, prom- 
ised to those wdio followed him " a hundredfold more 
in the present world ; " who reproached men for not 
coming to him, and then told them that no man came 
unto him except the Father drew him, and afterwards 
gave them to understand that they would be damned 
if they did not ccme unto him ; who preached trust 
concerning to-morrow, and then told men to make 
unto themselves friends of the mammon of unright- 
eousness. 

All this appears to be most contradictory and per- 
plexing, yet the same kind of contradiction marks the 
whole life and speech of men. One book may be 
many books, as the New Testament is literally. Its 
chapters may be addressed to different men, or to the 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 29 

same men under different circumstances ; or cautionary 
words may be interposed in anticipation of possible 
abuse. One of the New Testament writers states plain- 
ly that there are in the revelation two distinct kinds 
of spiritual aliment, known respectively as "milk" 
and " strong meat ; " one for babes, the other for men. 
When babes eat men's food, what wonder if they suf- 
fer from doctrinal dyspepsia, and be excluded from the 
Church as heretics? And when men appropriate the 
babes' milk, what wonder that the Church should 
suffer in robustness and power? There is one remark- 
able saying of Christ's which prepares us for ever 
widening revelations of his purpose in relation to 
man : he said, " I have many things to tell you, but ye 
cannot bear them now : howbeit when he, the Spirit 
of Truth, is come, he will lead you into all truth." 
Among the " many things " would be explanations of 
hard sayings and complements of unfinished circles. 
The plan of revelation, too, hinted that man should 
become more and more independent of the scribe, and 
more and more reliant upon the Spirit. Writing is a 
human contrivance, but thinking is a divine operation. 
The scribe for the child, the Spirit for man. The 
instructions of a parent or schoolmaster amply illus- 
trate the whole case alike as to method, instrument, 
and result. At one period, the child is addressed as 
if he were irresponsible, and at another, as if every 
deed would be brought under judgment. The school- 
master first sets before the pupil the most detailed 
methods of calculation, and insists upon every step 
being taken ; afterwards he shows the pupil how to 
abbreviate the processes of doing the very same work, 



30 ECCE DEUS. 

and actually ridicules him if the calculation is carried 
on in the detailed and minute method which at first 
was affirmed to be right. So a man is educated in 
proportion as he becomes able to group and sum- 
marize details, and by scientific ellipses to pass rapidly 
towards results. All this is part of a great movement 
from the letter to the Spirit, from the symbol to the 
life. This is man's upward course towards God ; a 
deliverance from manual toil, and an entrance upon 
the joys of a work which never satiates the appetite, 
and never wearies the faculty. When we are " perfect 
as our Father in heaven is perfect," we shall escape 
the tedium of manual processes, and work from the 
spiritual centre. 

According to the processes, so may be the verdicts 
which men may pass upon one another. The pupil 
who is only able to do a sum in simple multiplication 
would not be " able to bear" a revelation respecting the 
differential calculus ; but in proportion as he was able 
to acquit himself well in multiplication, the teacher 
would be justified in saying that he was a good scholar, 
and yet that he knew nothing; — good, as far as he 
had gone, yet ignorant in view of the vast region which 
remained to be explored. 

When Christ tells men to come unto him, he is 
addressing them in their alienated condition ; when he 
tells them that they will not come unless the Father 
draw them, he is but cheering and confirming their 
Christward desires. The statement is equivalent to 
this : i I am so unlike what all men have expected, and 
I have commenced my work in so unlikely a manner, 
that no man could possibly come unto such a poor, 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 3 1 

friendless, homeless man, except my Father draw him ; 
I present no external charms, I can appeal to no sordid 
motives ; if any man, therefore, feels the slightest draw- 
ing towards me, he may regard the inclination as di- 
vinely inspired, for no man cometh unto such a person 
as I am, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw 
him.' In this view, we have the meaning of the ex- 
pression, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
Men are moved by opposites. While there is a false- 
hood in extremes, there is a moral leverage in them 
also. The servant is on the road to mastery ; the 
humble man is travelling to the throne ; decomposi- 
tion is a step towards reproduction : so this lowly out- 
cast Christ, by the very depth of his humiliation, lifts 
society towards the altitude of heaven. He could not 
have done his work at any of the intermediate points 
of the social scale ; he must go down until there was 
no man below him — until he was despised and re- 
jected of men ; so that by an action on his part from 
the depth, and a concurrent action on his Father's 
part from heaven, he could say, " My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work ; no man cometh unto me except 
the Father draw him." 

But is it not declared, in other parts of the Christian 
writings, that certain men are foreordained and pre- 
destinated to eternal life ; that God is likened unto a 
potter, who may fit one vessel unto honor and another 
to dishonor ; that he hates one man and loves another ; 
that he subdues and hardens whom he will? Is not 
this contradictory of much that Christ said, and con- 
firmatory of other of his sayings? In the interpreta- 
tion of all such sayings, the heart is to be trusted 



32 ECCE DEUS. 

before the dictionary. Christ often put the under- 
standing of divine mysteries upon the base of an anal- 
ogy between fatherly and divine government: " If ye, 
. . . how much more your Father? " This is a method 
of interpretation which refers decisions to the natural 
and universal instincts of man, and such a method is 
absolutely essential where grammar and lexicon can- 
not disclose the inner meaning of language. Christ 
goes back to the interpretation of consciousness where 
literal interpretation fails. Tried by this higher tribu- 
nal of criticism, such meanings as have been attached 
to the idea of predestination simply cannot be correct. 
The heart repels them ; nature shudders with horror 
when they are suggested. The fatherly instinct of the 
human race, to which Christ himself appealed, in- 
stantly, without flutter or misgiving, says, ' If God 
calls all men, and yet determines that only a few shall 
come ; if he mocks men by offering gifts which he has 
rendered them powerless to accept ; if he makes some 
men vessels of dishonor, and then breaks them to 
pieces because they are not vessels of honor ; if he 
can sit on his judgment-seat, and see men going down 
to hell because he determined from all eternity that 
they should not go to heaven ; if when he says ' who- 
soever' he means but a few, — then let all honest 
and noble men leave him alone in his hateful heaven, 
and go down to hell in company with poor injured 
creatures who have deserved better at his hands.' This 
is the conclusion of that very instinct of parenthood 
which Christ himself challenged in the interest of the 
divine government. Nowhere in the sacred writings 
is God represented as falling below the promptings of 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 33 

that holy instinct, but everywhere as transcending them 
in love and beneficence ; but the interpretation which 
reprobates any portion of the human race shamefully 
and cruelly dishonors all that is compassionate and 
generous, not to say all that is equitable and just, in 
the common nature of men. Christ's new canon of 
interpretation renders men independent of technical 
criticism, and when the instinct upon which it is 
founded is entirely purified, it will render men inde- 
pendent of all ambiguous codes. So far, the parental 
instinct enables men confidently to affirm, that what- 
ever may be the meaning of predestination, it cannot 
narrow the affections, or pervert the justice of God. 

It has been suggested, by the narrowest and hardest 
school of theologians, that God may, as a sovereign, 
condemn anybody without being held accountable, or 
without giving any shadow of reason to his creatures. 
This, however, is a notion which proceeds upon a 
mistaken apprehension alike of divine and human 
nature. There is not only a fallacy, but a falsehood, 
in the very heart of such a representation. God him- 
self cannot so act with moral beings. In proportion 
as any creature is endowed with the moral element, in 
that proportion is the sovereignty of God limited in 
relation to that being when debated questions arise 
between the creature and the Creator. It is by virtue 
of the moral element that man stands upon a common 
plane with God. Sovereignty is a matter of power 
over forces and events which do not come within the 
sphere of responsibility. The whole tenor of the 
Christian writings goes to show, that as a sovereign 
God could not even save man; his sovereignty wa? 

2 * 



34 



ECCE DEUS. 



limited to the method by which salvation should be 
offered ; on all questions of plan, time, and circum- 
stances, God's sovereignty was absolute, but no man 
could be saved apart from the exercise of his own 
will ; the moment that force entered would be the 
moment of his degradation as a man. If man could 
have been saved simply by a volition of the sovereign, 
then the humiliation and agony of Christ constituted a 
circumlocution in the divine government which could 
be accounted for only on the ground of the most wan- 
ton cruelty on the part of God. Salvation and repro- 
bation alike lie beyond the limits of sovereignty, except 
in such points as have just been named. It is not our 
business to enter upon an interpretation of such pas- 
sages as are mistakenly supposed to justify the theory 
of reprobation ; but it is our business in thus canvass- 
ing the Christian writings to point out the canon of 
construction which Christ himself appealed to in illus- 
trating the immeasurable bounty of God towards man. 
Christ set up the human parent as the best represen- 
tative of the divine Father, and thereby elevated the 
parental spirit into an interpreter of divine things. 

With such real or apparent contradictions before us, 
it becomes of the first importance to determine what 
is to be done with the Christian writings? Are sophis- 
ticated and foolhardy men to be turned into them in- 
discriminately, and left without guidance as to their 
divisions and applications? Is the Church an author- 
ized and necessary interpreter of the written Word? 
The determining distinction between a book that is 
true and a book that is false is, that the true book, with 
all its ellipses, brokenness, and literal discrepancies, 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 35 

may be trusted anywhere, for the spirit that pervades 
it will be its strong defence, and it will grow upon the 
consciousness of men in proportion as they learn more 
of the brokenness and ellipsis of life itself. The bad 
book, on the other hand, with all its artistic consis- 
tency, will cheat every promise it offers, and fail most 
where it is needed most. The position which the 
Christian writings have attained is the best vindication 
of their claim to be the declarations which God has 
authorized ; not a position of finality, or apprehension 
as to encroachment, but one of inspiring and self- 
spreading life, which encompasses all the wants of 
man. 

Words already cited from Christ's own lips show 
that we are not living under a dispensation of the book, 
but under the dispensation of the Spirit; and this 
fact harmonizes with the whole of God's educational 
method so far as we have discovered it, that method 
being one of continuous advance from the seen to the 
unseen, from " beggarly elements " to all-subduing life. 
Christ gave a very partial revelation of himself in the 
days of his flesh. A few strong, startling, and revolu- 
tionary words, with a chastened and persuasive tone 
of consolation, sustained by many mighty works, was 
all that he gave men, with one exception ; but that 
exception was itself the chief hope of the Church, 
being nothing less than a promise of the Spirit of 
Truth. That spirit was to be an indwelling presence 
in the Church, inspiring and guiding the education 
of the soul, interpreting the facts which the visible 
Christ had created, and leading into the truths which 
those facts dimly outlined. Truth is always deeper 



36 ECCE DEUS. 

than fact. Christ had built up, by teaching and suf- 
fering, the world's greatest, holiest fact ; but the Spirit 
was promised to reveal the infinite truth which that 
fact pointed out. The Christian writings without the 
Christian Spirit would be a dead letter ; but the Spirit, 
by daily interpretation and application of the written 
Word, enlarges it so as to extend it over the whole 
ground of life. Though this is the age of the Spirit, 
it is appropriately termed the Christian era, for the 
Spirit "takes of the things of Christ" alone; never 
changes the theme, but continues to unfold " the un- 
searchable riches." Christ's personal work was rudi- 
mentary in a large sense ; he struck across the courses 
of life in a manner which compelled attention ; his 
words often flashed like lightning, and his step startled 
like thunder at midnight ; but his work has all the ap- 
pearance of a fragment about it. He has many things to 
say, but forbears ; what men knew not in his lifetime, 
they were to know afterwards ; his own works were 
to be succeeded by greater, because he was going to 
the Father. There was much abruptness about this. 
He had roused the Jewish mind without tranquillizing 
it again. He had started new conceptions, dismissed 
old prejudices, removed traditional boundaries, trou- 
bled the fountain of individual and national life, yet 
things were left in a chaotic state : — 

" Obstabatque aliis aliud : quia corpore in uno 
Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis, 
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus." 

All this was to be settled, orbed, illuminated ; and 
much time would be necessary before we could con- 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 37 

tinue the poet's description of the metamorphosis, and 
say, " Hanc Deus, et melior litem Natura diremit." 
Christ's work, looked at entirely by itself, simply as a 
three years' ministry, was certainly fragmentary, though 
perfect so far as it went ; yet looked at in relation to 
the whole width of human history, it was suggestive, 
not exhaustive ; preliminary, not final ; vernal, not 
autumnal. Throughout the whole of his work the 
Spirit expounded simply the doctrines of Christ, not 
any doctrines of his own : " He shall not speak of 
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he 
speak ; and he will show you things to come. He 
shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall 
show it unto you." Here, then, we have the solution 
of the difficulty as to the interpretation of the written 
Word ; there is a Spirit whose particular function it is 
to reveal the historic Christ more plainly, and so to 
keep pace with the enlarging capacity and power of 
the world. This Spirit operates upon a homogeneous 
spirit in man himself, and thus a mutual " witness " is 
established — a witness which in many cases tran- 
scends the difficulties sugge&tea by merely verbal 
criticism. 



3* 



CHAPTER III. 
THE WRITTEN WORD — continued. 

WE have said that though this is the dispensation 
of the Spirit, it is yet distinctively the Christian 
dispensation. This circumstance may throw a side- 
light upon one dark saying in the Christian writings, 
which relates to the unpardonable sin, the sin against 
the Holy Ghost. Christ taught that a word spoken 
against the Son of Man would be forgiven, but that 
a word spoken against the Holy Ghost would not be 
forgiven ; by which he probably meant that in his 
visible form there was so much that contravened the 
expectations of the people, that they might, under the 
mistaken guidance of their carnal feelings, speak 
against One who had claimed kingly position under 
a servant's form, but that in the course of events he 
would appeal not to the eye, but to the consciousness 
of men ; and that when he came by this higher min- 
istry, refusal of his appeal would place man in an 
unpardonable state. The vital principle would seem 
to be, that when man denies his own consciousness, or 
shuts himself up from such influences as would purify 
and quicken his consciousness, he cuts himself off from 
God, and becomes a " son of perdition." Speaking 
against the Holy Ghost is speaking against the higher 
and final revelation of the Son of Man : in this view 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 39 

Christ's position in the Godhead is unimpaired ; but 
if a sin against him were less than a sin against the 
Holy Ghost, he could no longer retain divine equality. 
According to the Christian writings, we know nothing 
of the Holy Ghost except in connection with Jesus 
Christ ; to speak, therefore, against the Holy Ghost is 
to speak against Jesus Christ himself, not as he ap- 
peared when he took upon him the form of a servant 
(tioQyty Jol'Aou), but as he was originally in the form 
of God (iv /uogcpjj Oeov). As we have already said, 
truth is larger than fact, so the spiritual is larger than 
the material, the Holy Spirit greater than any personal 
manifestation possibly could be. The incarnate Christ 
was local, the Holy Spirit is universal ; the fleshly 
Christ was a Jew, the Spirit-revealed Christ is the 
brother of every man ; the embodied Truth walked 
within certain geographical limits, but the spiritual 
Truth is unlimited in range and inexhaustible in 
power. The Apostle says that " henceforth we know 
not Christ after the flesh ; " now he is represented by 
the Holy Ghost, still head over all, though unseen 
by men. 

With this as a start-point, why may not the men of 
to-day know Christ more thoroughly than did the 
original disciples and apostles ? They know everything 
else better ; why make an exception of the great Life 
which is giving such revelations of itself as cover all 
the enlarging breadths of civilization, and fill plente- 
ously, even to overflow, the expanding capacities of 
manhood? The foremost man in the original aposto- 
late declared of himself that he had " not yet attained," 
and exhorted others to " grow in the knowledge of our 



4-0 ECCE DEUS. 

kord Jesus Christ." There is no claim of finality in 
the apostolic epistles. Everywhere the path of prog- 
ress is not merely pointed out, but the most exciting 
inducements to persevere are employed in the apostolic 
appeals. The riches of Christ are declared to be " un- 
searchable," and the peace of God is said to " pass 
understanding." All the terms descriptive of Christ, 
and of the courses of study which may be entered upon 
concerning him, suggest the impossibility of exhaus- 
tion, and by implication suggest the greatness and rich- 
ness of human nature. Stationariness in Christian 
study is a sin against the subject, and an injustice to 
the student. Not that fundamental and spiritual truths 
can be changed. Newton did not deny that two and 
two are four when he promulgated the doctrine of 
gravitation ; nor did Coulomb deny the diurnal rota- 
tion of the earth when he improved the mariner's 
compass. We go back to the Book for the primary 
facts and outshadowings of truth ; throwing aside all 
that was local and temporary, we discover the abiding 
root of which came the leaves and the fruit which are 
for the healing and sustenance of the nations. 

This term "root" assigns to the Christian writings 
their true position and value. There is all the differ- 
ence between the Christianity of the apostolic day, and 
the developed Christian idea of the present time, that 
there is between an acorn and an oak. The essential 
nature is unchanged, but the least of seeds has become 
the greatest of trees. The Father is glorified when 
the children " bear much fruit," and much fruit simply 
means much Christ. When Christ said that he had 
" finished his work," he spoke as an agriculturist 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 4 1 

might do when he had sown his entire field with seed, 
not as the reaper would do when he garnered his 
sheaves. The seed was small, the harvest is universal ; 
the words were few, and often broken, but they have 
roused the heart and shaped the course of the world. 
The tree is gigantic in stature, but it draws all its 
vitality out of the one root which Christ planted. 

It is certain that different men sustain different re- 
lations to the first principles of arithmetic, geometry, 
or any science. The skilled arithmetician does not 
require continually to refer to tabulated data ; he could 
carry on his calculations successfully, if all written 
data were destroyed. They are now in him ; they are 
part of his intellectual nature, so that he employs them 
with the ease which comes of perfect familiarity.* All 
men, however, are not advanced arithmeticians ; they 
must have something to work at, something on which 
the eye can rest, for they feel safe in their processes 
only so far as an appeal is made to the eye. Numbers, 
however, are dogmatic ; they make no accommoda- 
tions ; they ignore all varieties of temperament, faculty, 
and circumstances, and by so much they differ from 
the spiritual truths which are the subject of the Chris- 
tian writings. Still the analogical point is vivid 
enough for our purpose ; some students are yet at the 
very beginning, wondering at the birth, or startled by 
the works of Christ ; others have got beyond the nar- 
row factual boundary, and are revelling in all spiritual 
luxuriance. It would be as impertinent in the arith- 
metician who has not yet mastered the first four rules 

* Ecce Homo, 183, 4. 



42 ECCE DEUS. 

of his art, to rail against the learned algebraist, as for 
the tyros in Christian literature to reproach men who 
have the word of Christ dwelling in them richly, 
having forgotten or left behind the elementary facts 
of the Gospel. 

Any survey of that portion of human society com- 
prised within the limits of modern civilization which 
ignored the practical power of the written Word, 
would not only be partial, but unjust — openly and 
scandalously wicked, indeed. By influencing society 
at the vital centre, it touches the remotest angles of the 
social idea. Its effect upon young life, upon all the 
multitudinous aspects of human sorrow, upon the de- 
velopment and consolidation of generous sentiment, is 
w T ritten in living characters upon daily life. Even where 
its dogmatic form is denied, its spiritual results are 
evident ; and some, who find a thousand difficulties in 
its letter, are penetrated and ennobled by its principles. 
If a question of comparison between this book and any 
other were started, Christ's own standard of judgment 
would best meet the case ; looking forward to the false 
prophets who should seek to undo his work, he said, 
cc By their fruits ye shall know them." Modern civil- 
ization should be the field of research on both sides. 
Which book has done most for liberty, justice, prog- 
ress? Which book has most persistently branded, 
defied, and threatened every form of tyranny? Which 
book has spoken with the truest pathos to the wounded 
and sorrowing heart? Which book has done most for 
the poor man? These inquiries may be put in no 
declamatory spirit, but simply with a view to the 
discovery of facts. The test is fair. It is marked by 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 43 

a high sense of honesty on the part of Jesus Christ. 
He adopts no method of overriding human judgment, 
but, on the contrary, elevates the discriminative faculty 
of man, and in a manner throws the responsibility of 
the conclusion upon men's own common sense. This 
if not the plan of necromancers, soothsayers, and self- 
elected prophets : Christ appeals to his own works 
and the works of others, asking the verdict of the 
world upon their respective claims to truth and vener- 
ation. There is no cunning legerdemain, no rebuke 
of human severity, in the examination, no indulgence 
bespoken on behalf of the worker : the words and 
works are before you — judge them, said Christ; and 
" believe me for the very works' sake." 

The important concession that different men may 
sustain different relations to the Christian writings, 
may provoke an inquiry, bearing upon some aspects 
of church-life to-day : What of the consistency of 
those who, being far advanced, having come into a 
great liberty of faith, are still teachers in those churches 
that are yet only in the rudiments, and whose published 
dogmas give no hope of expansion? The answer to 
this inquiry cannot be difficult. To the end of the 
world churches, as promiscuous aggregates, must be 
in the rudiments only, and the teachers of such 
churches must accommodate themselves to the ele- 
mentary faith of their hearers. Often the teachers 
will come to know w T hat Christ meant, when he said, 
44 1 have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot 
bear them now." The wisest teachers are the most 
reticent men. They reserve all the deeper interpreta- 
tions, knowing, from a wide observation of human 



44 ECCE DEUS. 

nature, that many who have eyes, see not, and many 
who have hearts, do not understand. Wise teachers 
will speak in one set of terms to the great multitude, 
and in another to the foremost men, when they can go 
aside and commune secretly. They will often have to 
hide their meaning under a parable, and give explana- 
tions in an undertone. This is what Christ did. He 
had special interviews with his disciples, in which he 
spoke of the deeper things of his kingdom ; and when 
one of his followers gave utterance to a testimony re- 
specting his Messiahship, more full and emphatic than 
had yet been rendered, he pronounced it an immediate 
disclosure from heaven. Again and again, too, he 
enjoined silence upon his disciples as to the higher 
questions which had passed between them, as if reve- 
lation was to be regulated by time, and to-morrow's 
work w^as not to be dragged into to-day's service. 
These graduated revelations are compatible with the 
mystery of his own manifestation before men, and the 
method by which he educated the disciples. His 
representatives are right as they follow their master's 
course. No man is bound to open all his heart to 
unappreciative spectators. To the esoteric circle he 
may fully reveal himself, but to the exoteric crowd his 
demeanor may be reserved. He knows that to some 
men he must not tell the dream, until he can also tell 
the interpretation ; but that others can help him in the 
changeful visions and tumultuous upheaving through 
which the soul passes into the higher ranges and 
sweeter experiences of truth. 

It is to be remarked that Jesus Christ never wrote 
anything, nor did he instruct his disciples to commit 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 45 

anything to writing. We have broken reports of 
many of his addresses, and very fragmentary memo- 
randa of his conversations and disputes, but no pro- 
vision of a literary kind seems to have been made to 
secure permanence. Anything more fugitive, appar- 
ently, than the words and works of Christ, it is impos- 
sible to find : no hired scribes report the utterances or 
chronicle the deeds of this wonderful Man ; he founds 
no library, leaves no chronicles to be hidden in secure 
places, but works out his twelve hours, and then passes 
into rest. We come to no sign of permanence, until 
we receive the promise of the Holy Ghost ; he was to 
quicken the recollection, as well as to disclose further 
aspects of the truth. The memory was not to be left 
unaided ; a great light was to be held over all the way 
in which the disciples had walked, so that they might 
see the minutest detail, and tell or write their story 
with all the clearness and certitude of personal obser- 
vation. 

The written Word is a repertory of facts, a revela- 
tion of doctrines, and a standard of appeal upon all 
questions to which it bears any relation. The only 
interpreter of this Word is the Holy Ghost, and he 
operates through the consciousness of the reader : it is 
not a Word arbitrarily superimposed upon man, but 
a word in harmony with all that is divine in human 
nature, and therefore having power to carry the entire 
conviction and sympathy of all who read without pre- 
judice. Upon these principles the subsequent inquiry 
will be conducted. 



4 6 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INAUGURATION. 

THE measure of consciousness is the measure of 
life. The life of intelligent beings is not merely 
a question of years ; lapse of time may not increase 
vitality ; life is to be measured by the sensitiveness 
and enlightenment of consciousness, so that over-con- 
sciousness may be one meaning of precocity or prema- 
turity of manhood. The first public intimation of 
consciousness of his great position, on the part of 
Christ, if we except the answer which he made to his 
mother, is found in immediate connection with his 
baptism. When John remonstrated with him, saying, 
" I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou 
to me?" he answered, " Suffer it to be so now." 
There is here clearly personal consciousness of his 
identity as the long-announced Man who was to be at 
once Son and Lord of humankind. At that moment 
he knew himself. The fire which had been in him 
from the beginning shot up into a bright flame, which 
John saw, and which all who were afar off were to 
see. Up to that time, in all probability, Christ was 
not fully conscious of his Messiahship. The poor 
frail flesh which he had inherited from a depraved 
race could not have borne the presence of full con- 
sciousness for thirty years : when it did come, it con- 



THE INAUGURATION. 47 

sumed him in as many months. He had but three 
years of avowed battle. Such a man could never do his 
work with indifference. Every moment was a strain 
upon his life. No man ever gave so much to time, or 
ever exacted so much in return. To assume full con- 
sciousness on the part of Christ during the years of 
his obscurity seems to separate him too widely from 
man, by reducing his humanity to a minimum ; but to 
assume that he " grew " in consciousness, as he " grew 
in favor with God and man," is to bring him into 
close fellowship with the weakest of his followers. 
We cannot afford to contract in the least degree the 
amplitude of Christ's manhood ; it is upon that side 
particularly that he belongs to us ; it is as the ladder 
reaching unto heaven whereby men may ascend. By 
so much as he was human he was limited, during his 
obscurity, in consciousness ; by so much as he was 
divine, his full consciousness overbore his humanity. 
All men who have done any notable work in the world 
have felt the consciousness of its importance, as a fire 
in the bones. They could not languidly dream of it, 
nor contemplate it from a hazy and mellowing dis- 
tance. They have hasted unto the battle ; they have 
said, " I am straitened until it be accomplished." Such 
a consciousness makes men die young. It carries the 
soul into an agony of passion. It drives the blood 
along the channels with an urgency which greatly dis- 
tresses nature, and strains the intellectual nerve until 
the brain sees strange lights, and often trembles for its 
own safety. Only men of strong natures know what 
is meant by this lavish expenditure of life — this will- 
ingness to taste death for every man. 



48 ECCE DEUS. 

Common life supplies the example of consciousness 
in the matter of mutual affection. Wisely and merci- 
fully, this has been made a matter of growth. Human 
nature would be altogether overdriven did this con- 
sciousness set in fully during the period of education 
and discipline. From the general kindness and sim- 
plicity of childhood we advance until the heart begins 
to individualize its sentiments, to concentrate its ener- 
gies ; by and by there seems to be but one life in all 
the world, and then begins the consuming passion of 
perfect love. Human lives grow gradually up to this. 
To so great a passion they must have come by wisely 
graduated degrees, or it would have rent and destroyed 
them. Still, all through there has been a conscious- 
ness of love, and in all the simple trust and generosity 
of young affection there have been hints of a great 
possibility, which only time and circumstances could 
develop. And this full love means, if need be, sacri- 
fice, cross, death ! All love is ready for the thorns 
and prepared for the slaughter ; only by so much as it 
is so ready is it worthy of the name of love. It may 
not be driven so far along the line as these things 
lie, but these things do lie in the line of pure, self- 
oblivious affection. Man is never so near the cross as 
when he is in the highest mood of love. To misan- 
thropy, to all narrow-heartedness and self-worship, 
the cross must be the sum of all horrors ; they stand 
on different planes, they speak languages mutually 
unknown ; but the cross is the very next thing to love : 
there is but a step between them ! 

This may illustrate in some degree the growth of 
consciousness in Jesus Christ. The three years of his 



THE INAUGURATION. 49 

heart-consuming ministry were backed by thirty years 
of quiet and thoughtful life. In such backing lies the 
strength of all great workers. Nothing consumes like 
love ; how soon, then, must he be consumed who did 
nothing but love ! The brevity of his life must have 
some meaning. Three years as reckoned by human 
tables are but a span ; there must have been in those 
three years a fire which burned fiercely, and made 
them unlike any other three years in all human 
history. 

This view of Christ's consciousness detracts in no 
degree from Christ's deity ; rather it throws into bolder 
and more peculiar relief the elements which contra- 
distinguished him from all others, while it retains him 
amongst us as the Man Christ Jesus. The horizon 
seems gradually but surely to have widened, until he 
who " came to his own " saw " all men coming to 
him," and he who was " lifted up " drew all nations to 
his cross. This might have been, would have been, 
too much for the youth in his humble home at Naza- 
reth. All was getting in readiness for the dove that 
was to mark the opening of the new era. There was 
to be a descent upon him — a special point of con- 
currence which was to signalize the quickening of 
perfect consciousness. It is to that concurrent point 
that we have now to look. 

Christ passed, so to speak, through two gates, the 
one strait, the other straiter, respectively named 
Baptism and Temptation. The inaugural processes 
are characterized by the same mystery that has over- 
shadowed us all along. They are congruous with all 
that we have seen in the foretelling and in the birth. 

3 



50 ECCE DEUS. 

The duality remains without wrench or flaw. There 
is an upward, there is also a downward side. There 
had been, to us suddenly and most inexplicably, a 
brief dispensation interposed between Christ and his 
work — a dispensation embodied in one man, and that 
man as little like Christ as the thunder-storm is like 
the calm which it precedes. Other dispensations had 
been long, this was brief; other prophets spake, but 
saw not \ this prophet baptized the very man of whom 
he prophesied. Never did divine processes seem to 
hurry upon one another so urgently as about this time, 
for from the Inauguration to the Ascension but three 
summers shone ! The movement of events never fal- 
tered for a moment. Jesus Christ, as he had been 
the burden of other dispensations, was to be the burden 
of this. He was to find his name on all other pages, 
and now it was to be written on this rugged leaf 
which tells the story of the " voice crying in the 
wilderness." Men are valuable to us as teachers in 
proportion as they represent a great compass of his- 
tory. When the aroma of all lands floats from their 
robes, and the accents of all languages blend in their 
speech, they have a right to speak with authority. 
The world's Saviour must have come through the 
world's great throng of hearts ; he had come through 
Moses, the minstrels, the prophets, and on His way 
he now takes up this transient dispensation of the 
" voice." Thus Christ publicly identified himself 
with the current of divine purposes as shown in hu- 
man history. He worked with man as well as for 
man, and was thus the contemporary of all ages. 
Men should study the divine idea of each age, and 



THE INAUGURATION. 51 

become intelligent co-workers with God. Christ's 
example shows that obedience to the divine spirit of 
the time ever brings fuller disclosures and attestations 
of the divine blessing. The heavens are opened to 
every obedient man, and the Spirit of God descends 
on the last as on the first. John's baptism had gone 
no farther than repentance, but Christ, standing with 
the dove resting upon him, showed that there was a 
baptism unto holiness. By John's baptism men were 
put into a right relation to the past, but as they fol- 
lowed Christ they were put into a right relation to the 
future ; from the negative condition of repentance they 
passed to the affirmative attitude of holiness. This is 
the culmination of human history. We have come 
through man, servant, prophet, messenger, up to Son. 
The very nomenclature is pregnant with sublime 
moral significance; we pass from "made" to ''be- 
gotten," from " upright " to " beloved," from the " us " 
of the creating Trinity to the u my" of the benignant 
Father, from the " very good " of the first Adam to the 
" well-pleased " of the second. " Ovio; ianv 6 vlog fiov 
6 dcyamjids lv 6 edd6&r t cr(x." 

John's baptism looked towards repentance : why 
then should Jesus Christ undergo it? To prove his 
human nature, his vital connection on his mother's 
side with the whole human state, and to supersede it 
by fulfilment. The world could be taught only grad- 
ually ; it needed "water" before "fire," the bodily 
lustration before the spiritual fervor. The dispensa- 
tions have all worked from the outward to the inward, 
from the body to the soul ; but Christ inverted this 
method, and established the only really spiritual dis- 



52 ECCE DEUS. 

pensation. Did Christ, then, need to repent? No 
more than he needed to pray, or to do any religious 
exercise that men do. In so far as he was human, it 
became him to adopt the duties of each dispensation. 

The place of baptism in the Christian system is one 
of great simplicity. Men like — indeed require — 
something objective. They cannot at one bound attain 
that which is purely spiritual. Ceremonies, and all 
ordinances, great or small, are only accommodations 
to human weakness. Men require something to fall 
back upon. Even a recollection may come up in the 
soul with all the gracious power of inspiration : the 
simple fact that we have done something, or that 
something has been done for us, may save us from 
despair and incite us to do more. Many a soul that 
has sunk from God in higher things has been stayed in 
its sinking by coming against the fact of its baptism in 
its downward course. It was well, therefore, as an 
accommodation to human weakness, to conjoin bap- 
tism with faith in framing the evangelical commission. 
If any man wishes to undergo the " baptism unto 
repentance," it may be a question how far he is at 
liberty to take a backward step in the dispensations ; 
but to baptize children (who do not need repentance) 
unto holiness is an act infinitely beautiful in simplicity 
and infinitely charming in pathos. Baptism provides 
for the lower and coarser part of human nature. It 
associates in a very natural way fact with faith, some- 
thing done with something yet to be done, and thus it 
is made a help to us. To make anything more 
important of it would be to abet the theological char- 
latanry which has kept back many souls from the king- 
dom of God. 



53 



CHAPTER V. 
the inauguration: the diabolic phase. 

'THHERE was another dispensation to pass through 
-*- — the dispensation of the devil. Human history 
would not have been what it was but for the diabolic 
element ; it was impossible, consequently, for Jesus 
Christ to enter upon his work without a very demon- 
strative antagonism at the very beginning. With infi- 
nite propriety does the temptation follow immediately 
upon the baptism. The devil had been at work before, 
in persecution by means of Herod, obliquely, so as to 
suit the less pronounced periods of the new life ; but 
as soon as the Baptism had brought Christ the seal 
from heaven, and proclaimed his true relation to God 
and man, a more formal and critical contest became a 
necessity. Christ could not have passed to his work 
with a merely indirect recognition of the devil's exist- 
ence ; the recognition must be full, emphatic, solemn. 
Any man who proposed to himself the fabrication of 
the story of the wilderness, entered upon a most peril- 
ous task. It must be difficult for human genius to 
contrive a consistent devil, or to maintain in dialogue 
the conscious power of God. On the other hand, who 
could historically write the account of the temptation? 
No one was present with pen and ink. No one over- 
heard the interlocution. How, then, does it find a 



54 ECCE DEUS. 

place in history? It must have been outlined by 
Christ himself in conversation with his disciples. 
Many a time the conversation would turn upon the 
devil and his kingdom, for the Christian monarchy 
was set up to put the diabolic monarchy down. When 
the conversation so turned, nothing would be more 
natural than that Christ should relate his experience 
in the wilderness, and found upon it many of his most 
practical directions. The account is obviously frag- 
mentary, and in one or two points must be read 
figuratively, not literally. Temptations cannot be 
written. The process is not conducted with all the 
precision of a Socratic dialogue. The heart can give 
but a meagre account of its spiritual conflicts ; its 
wounds cannot be translated ; its triumphs are too 
subtle for words. At the same time all Christian 
hearts have, according to their capacity and suscep- 
tibility, gone through the very course of temptation 
given in the New Testament narrative. All such 
hearts have been tempted to make bread in an illegit- 
imate and forbidden manner ; have been tempted to 
risk their lives and their destinies presumptuously ; 
and also tempted to offer the homage of the soul as 
the price of secular aggrandizement. Upon such 
points as these the whole world has become a wilder- 
ness of temptation or a wilderness of discipline. To- 
day the great strife of the world is proceeding upon 
these very issues, — Bread, Desperation, Sovereignty. 
Man has been victimized by the sophism that it is 
necessary for him to live, and therefore necessary that 
he should make bread, either legitimately or dis- 
honestly ; but Christ alone broke through this sophism 



the inauguration: the diabolic phase. 55 

by showing from what the true life of man is derived, 
that there is something deeper than the sensations of 
the body, which cannot be a guest at men's tables, but 
must feed on the very truth of God. Man has been 
also tempted to risks that are unlawful, especially on 
the pretence that he was but acting up to his faith ; 
forgetting that there is a limit to human liberty, and 
that a narrow boundary separates trust and presump- 
tion. Man has further been tempted to bid for great 
dominion, and in some cases under the glare of the 
delusion he has bent his knee before the deceiver. So 
man himself has passed through the series of tempta- 
tions recorded in connection with the name of Christ, 
and can understand what is meant by Christ having 
been " tempted in all points like unto his brethren," 
showing that Christ took up the very temptations 
which had been plaguing the world for thousands of 
years, and did not introduce a new and unfamiliar 
class of temptations which had never troubled the life 
of the world, and which, even when overcome, left 
the common temptations of society untouched. This 
view does two things : first, it shows the barrenness 
and utter poverty of the devil's resources ; stripped of 
all that is accidental, merely decorative or diplomatic, 
they really consist of one thing, viz : the exaggeration 
and idolatry of self; and second, this view r brings 
Tesus Christ into very close and tender sympathy with 
every tempted man. They stand on the same line ; 
they bear the same tremendous shocks ; they war with 
the same weapons. Did Christ, then, merely suffer in 
the wilderness as any other man has done ? Suffering 
is a question of nature. The educated man suffers 



56 ECCE DEUB. 

more than the uneducated man: the poet probably 
suffers more than the mathematician ; the command- 
ing officer suffers more in a defeat than the common 
soldier. The more life, the more suffering ; the billows 
of sorrow being in proportion to the volume of our 
manhood. Now Jesus Christ was not merely a man, 
he was Man; and by the very compass of his man- 
hood he suffered more than any mortal can endure. 
The storm may pass as fiercely over the shallow lake 
as over the Atlantic, but by its very volume the latter 
is more terribly shaken. No other man had come 
with Christ's ideas ; in no other man was the element 
of self so entirely abnegated ; no other man had offered 
such opposition to diabolic rule : all these circum- 
stances combine to render Christ's temptation unique, 
yet not one of them puts Christ so far away as to pre- 
vent us finding in his temptation unfailing solace and 
strength. 

The temptation of the Beloved Son is important as 
an historic fact, but infinitely more important as a doc- 
trine giving hope to men who are tempted by the devil 
to some degree of the same enormities. Could Christ 
have been overthrown? Most certainly ; otherwise his 
temptation has no message to man, except one of de- 
spair. Whatever is less than infinite, is temptible and 
peccable ; Christ's humanity was less than infinite, 
therefore his humanity might have been overthrown. 
Sympathy can proceed only from community of situa- 
tion. To say that Christ could not have been success- 
fully tempted, and that the result of his temptation 
should comfort men, is equal to saying that, because 
no man can blow out the sun, therefore no man can 



the inauguration: the diabolic phase. 57 

blow out a taper. The record of the temptation is an 
act of cruelty, if it have no bearing on human strife ; 
but an analysis of the temptation shows that the 
methods of assault are fundamentally the same, and 
that every answer is available for every tempted man. 

When, however, it is affirmed that Christ could have 
been successfully tempted, the words require to be care- 
fully considered. The possibility relates, of course, en- 
tirely to the human side of his nature. So far as the 
weakness of the flesh was concerned, Christ was open 
to all the results of diabolic seduction ; but there was 
in him that spirit of perfect trust in God, which ren- 
dered the fiercest assaults of the enemy simply futile. 
He did not come upon the tempter as Eve did ; she 
was necessarily inexperienced — she could not foresee 
the result of disobedience ; Christ had the history of 
the world as a living illustration of the course of 
diabolic policy immediately before him, so that he 
could give the lie to every diabolic suggestion. 

A common illustration will simplify the idea that the 
spirit of perfect trust which was in Christ, taken in 
connection with the results of sin which abounded 
everywhere, rendered temptation utterly futile. Take 
the most respected man of a given neighborhood — 
a man whose honor and integrity are known to be 
above suspicion, and it may be affirmed of that man, 
that it is impossible to persuade him to defraud his 
neighbor of a penny. The idea of his doing so would 
be regarded by those who knew him best as an impu- 
tation not to be tolerated for a moment. But why? 
The man is only human, like other men, why then this 
indignation at the idea of fraud ? Simply because the 
3* 



58 ECCE DEUS. 

spirit of honesty within him is too strong to succumb 
to such a temptation. But increase the force of the 
temptation ; raise it from a paltry penny to ten thou- 
sand guineas, and multiply the ten by ten, and add the 
assurance that no human being can ever be cognizant 
of the fraudulent deed, and if that amount will not 
reach to his full moral stature, add to it according to 
his integrity ; and thus a tremendous rival force may 
be set up, with which the man may find it difficult or 
impossible to contend. In the case of Christ, the devil 
pursued this climacteric course, rising from the mere 
satisfaction of hunger to the rule of all kingdoms. 
Still the Messianic spirit towered far beyond the pre- 
tentious offer. The deceiver could not attain the over- 
shadowing height ; other men had been measurable 
and conquerable, but this man was of gigantic stature, 
and his shield was impenetrable. While, then, look- 
ing strictly to the human side of Christ, it may be 
affirmed that he w r as exposed to all the risks of tempta- 
tion, it may be affirmed with equal truth, looking at 
his spirit, that it was impossible that Christ could fall. 
There is a great truth in each representation, and the 
combination of the two can alone give us the reality 
of the case. One fact w T ill show that the temptation 
of Christ was designed to be a source of strength to 
every tempted man : all the temptations are such as 
might have been addressed to a merely human being 
— not one of them was adapted to a being believed to 
be divine. With a Socinian creed, the devil adopted 
a Socinian policy. He assailed the man ; he aimed no 
weapon at the God. He regarded him, indeed, as a 
man of great name and bold pretension, but a man 



the inauguration: the diabolic phase. 59 

still. The first temptation has an air of benevolence 
about it, — " Thou art hungry : make bread ! " The 
second is marked by a spirit of inquiry as to the reality 
of creeds, — "It is written: prove the truth of the 
writing ! " The third is an appeal to the senses, — 
11 All these will I give thee ! " Through this course 
we ourselves have been taken, and it would be a poor 
consolation to know that there was no point of sym- 
pathy between Christ and our souls. 

In further elucidation of Christ's spirit, showing 
that it represented not only innocence but holiness, not 
a negative but an affirmative condition of soul, one re- 
markable circumstance should be noted. Eve and 
Christ returned precisely the same answer to Satanic 
suggestion. Eve referred to the word of God, so did 
Christ ; Eve answered, " God hath said," Christ an- 
swered, " It is written ; " yet Eve fell, and Christ 
stood. The strength, therefore, was not in the mere 
answer as containing a piece of information. Life is 
greater than intelligence ; sympathy is profounder than 
obedience. The world's first woman was necessarily 
inexperienced ; she had no historic footprints to go by ; 
she knew her instructions, but they were set on no 
background of guilt and sorrow. The world's second 
Man was rich in history ; he had no formal instruc- 
tions, but brought with him the spirit of all caution 
and strength. The divine word is potential only as it 
represents the full consent of man's mind, soul, heart, 
and will. Eve gave her answer simply without doubt ; 
Christ gave his with perfect faith. 

The temptation was a movement towards humanity 
on the part of Christ. Men had lost sight of him for 



60 ECCE DEUS. 

something like thirty years, with one exception He 
was near them at his birth, with all the promise and 
hopefulness of morning twilight ; and again he ap- 
proached society when he was twelve years old ; but 
now that he is in the wilderness, he seems nearer to 
human hearts than before. From the baptism he went 
up, as it were, towards God as the " Beloved Son," 
but from the temptation, he comes earthward as the 
Son of man. The Jordan lies on the heavenly, the 
wilderness on the earthly side of Christ. There is a 
" river," but there is no wilderness in heaven. 

The particular manner of the inauguration, so far 
as its demonstrativeness is concerned, seems to have 
been required by the protracted seclusion of Jesus 
Christ. It is not a little perplexing that one whose 
birth had been attended by such marked, such unpar- 
alleled circumstances, could have been allowed by his 
contemporaries to subside into obscurity for a consid- 
erable succession of years. In some respects it seems 
impossible. Judging by the passionate urgency which 
marks every great movement of to-day, we should 
think that Nazareth would have been watched day 
and night; that all the learning and religion of the 
land would have adjourned thither, and impatiently 
demanded a decision respecting the destiny of the 
Child. Instead of this, the most marvellous birth of 
the ages is allowed to fall into partial, if not into 
total oblivion. The demonstration attending the birth 
makes this subsidence the more remarkable. The song 
of angels, the homage of wise men, the sensation in 
Jerusalem, all increase the wonder. It is to be borne 
in mind, however, that by many the sword of Herod 



the inauguration: the diabolic phase. 6i 

was supposed to have taken away the Child of the 
Star and the Song. When that Child reappeared at 
the age of twelve years, he did so without any of those 
demonstrations which had accompanied the birth, 
simply exciting attention by his unusual sagacity. It 
was a long way, too, in those days from Bethlehem to 
Nazareth ; and in that contemned Galilean town, the 
ear of corn could die before reappearing in its multi- 
plied form. Strange, tumultuous years they must have 
been for the mother, though. Her heart must have 
been darkly overshadowed by that mysterious Son of 
hers, and must have sunk under the great burden of 
its own reflections, had not " the power of the High- 
est " been her continual defence and rest. 

This long seclusion seemed to require an inaugura- 
tion corresponding, in some degree, with the annun- 
ciation. Instead of the Star we see the Dove ; instead 
of the Song, we hear the Voice from heaven ; and in- 
stead of the flight into Egypt, we have the withdrawal 
into the wilderness. At this point, we get another 
glance at the unity of the double mystery of Christ. 
He took the dispensations as he found them ; he un- 
derwent circumcision, and gave to the Lord a pair of 
turtle-doves and two young pigeons ; long years after- 
wards, he found God's purpose set forth in a particular 
baptism, and openly identified himself with it ; then 
he was taken into the wilderness, to be tempted of the 
devil. Why hesitate to say so plainly, and believe so 
literally? A man who had not been tempted would 
have been of no use to men. He would have been a 
stranger to their mental history ; only able to talk at y 
but never to their spirit : all his words, refined and 



62 ECCE DEUS. 

lustrous, would never have penetrated into the deep 
rips and wounds of human nature. There is no need 
to gloss the bare and startling announcement that 
Christ w r as led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to 
be tempted of the devil. It is better to put the fact 
thus boldly before men. The weary, aching heart 
cannot feed on metaphors, or the cunning sleights of 
rhetoric ; give it a Christ tempted, yet victorious, and 
the fact that one man has overcome the devil will sus- 
tain its own endeavors in the same daily conflict. 

The scene in the wilderness illustrates the risks of 
solitude. The self-diabolizing spirit of man always 
reveals itself to the lonely contemplatist, either in 
moments of vacancy, or under the stress of spiritual 
crises. Eve was tempted when she was alone ; the 
suicide succumbs when he is pushed into the last de- 
gree of loneliness ; the darkest thoughts of the conspir- 
ator becloud the mind when he has most deeply cut 
the social bond : when man is alone, he loses the 
check of comparison with others ; he miscalculates 
his force, and deems too little of the antagonisms 
which that force may excite. All these are among 
the risks of solitude. The solitary man either degen- 
erates into a misanthrope, and the tool of the diabo- 
lizing spirit, or he enriches and strengthens his life by 
reverent and subduing contemplation. Wherever we 
can descry the course of the diabolic spirit, we are left 
in no doubt as to the value which he sets upon the in- 
dividual heart. He teaches a new doctrine in num- 
bers. We calculate majorities by units ; he teaches 
that the unit itself may be the majority ; he counts by 
much, not many, his majorities being measured not by 



THE INAUGURATION : THE DIABOLIC PHASE. 63 

numbers, but by force. The minority may be the 
majority. Cassar is more than all Caesar's legions. 
When Eve was overthrown, a world was conquered. 
The persons whom the devil has elected to high 
offices in his government, have been strongly individ- 
ual in character and faculty ; from Eve to Judas, the 
succession has been marked by the coolest subtlety or 
the intensest passion. As the devil won a world when 
he won Eve, he knew that he would have won it twice, 
and forever kept it, if he had subdued her Son. 

But the risks of solitude, it should be added, are in 
proportion to its value. Man cannot reach his full 
stature in the market-place, or in association with the 
excited throng. The wilderness must form the coun- 
terpart of the thoroughfare, — great breadths of con- 
templation alternating with great breadths of service. 
This was Christ's example, illustrated most vividly at 
one exciting point in his history : the disciples of 
John went and told Jesus that their master had been 
murdered by Herod ; the intelligence seems to have 
shocked his spirit with a terrible disappointment ; sick- 
ened and saddened by this tale of blood, u he departed 
thence by ship into a desert place apart," as if to 
avenge the murder upon the diabolic instigator, or to 
weep great drops of blood ; yet we are told in the 
very next verse, that "Jesus went forth and saw a 
great multitude, and was moved with compassion to- 
wards them, and healed their sick." These were the 
hemispheres of his life, — secrecy and publicity ; pray- 
ing in the desert, and healing in the city ; weeping 
alone, and working in the presence of many witnesses. 
The desert was to Christ a holy place, after the initial 



64 ECCE DEUS. 

battle ; the sight of the old footmarks inspired his de- 
pressed heart ; the echoes of the victorious quotations 
became as voices of promise. In the first instance, he 
was led up of the Spirit to be tempted ; often after- 
wards he was led up of the Spirit into the same 
wilderness to be comforted. So all through human 
life : recollection becomes inspiration, and Memory 
speaks to the soul like a prophet of the Lord. 

The answers which Christ returned to the tempter 
illustrate the intensely spiritual nature of the tempta- 
tion, and show how man is dependent upon an ob- 
jective revelation in seasons of trial. Not one answer 
was returned from within ; the soul looked out of it- 
self for defence, yet gave the answers with the firm 
emphasis of perfect trust, as if their doctrine carried 
the entire conviction of the speaker. Man cannot do 
things simply because they are " written." The action 
comes from the harmony which is established between 
what is felt, and what is " written ;" consciousness 
and revelation must be at one, and then the citation of 
written authority is not a sign of personal weakness, 
but a token of vital fellowship with God. If merely 
to say " it is written " were enough, then no man would 
fall ; the point of failure is where the written Word 
and the life of the soul are not entirely at one. Men 
are not kept by revelation, but by the acceptance of 
the heart of that which is revealed. Yet objective 
revelation is of the highest consequence in human life. 
It stays the soul in special conflicts, and as men may 
feel stronger and safer in company than in loneliness, 
so the heart feels braver by the very presence of a 
written Word. A subjective revelation might have 



THE INAUGURATION : THE DIABOLIC PHASE. 65 

been the only revelation given, and might have been 
enough under primary conditions ; but by so much as 
man fell from those conditions, he required a book as 
well as a conscience. Nor does Christ's example 
militate against this position, for throughout he com- 
bated the diabolic spirit as a man; nowhere did he 
launch the lightnings of his proper divinity in reply, 
but ever made the simple answer of a man who had 
read the revelation of God. Other courses were open 
to Christ. He could have recalled the tempter's own 
memories of heaven, the ancient sentence, the terrible 
deposition ; the indwelling God might have shone 
through the human eyes, and abashed the Tempter by 
the light from which he had been expelled ; yet all 
this side of defence is untouched, and the tempted man 
shelters himself behind the rampart of the written 
Word. Every assault is encountered upon the human 
side : to have met the Tempter otherwise, would have 
been to deflect from the only course possible to man, 
and to have divested the wilderness period of the 
Incarnation of all the features which endear it to 
probationary manhood. 



66 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE MIGHTY WORKS. 

THE baptized and tempted Son was now pre* 
pared for his mission. There is a very striking 
and suggestive consistency between the preparation 
and the work. So much power had been held in 
restraint for so long a time, that it was not to be won- 
dered at that on its liberation " mighty deeds should 
show forth themselves in him." One of his biogra- 
phers, as if overpowered by the number and splendor 
of his miracles, instead of introducing detailed state- 
ments of supernatural cures, groups in one impressive 
mass the beneficent works of many days ; and the 
grouping is the more remarkable as coming at the 
very beginning rather than at the end of the narrative. 
If the miraculous mission had been opened leisurely, 
with a cure here, and a storm quieted there, the nar- 
rator would probably have given detailed accounts on 
his first pages, and as the miracles increased, he would 
have summarized towards the conclusion. Instead of 
this leisurely introduction of the miraculous element, 
we are startled very early with this announcement: 
u They brought unto him all sick people that were 
taken with divers diseases and torments, and those 
which were possessed with devils, and those which 
were lunatic, and those that had the palsy ; and he 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 6j 

healed them." All was as easy as bringing ice into 
the presence of the summer sun, that it might be 
melted. The unity of the mystery is again evident. 
Even in this marvellous statement there is nothing out 
of harmony with what has preceded. Is there any- 
thing to be wondered at, with sceptical wonder, that 
the Man who conquered the devil in the wilderness, 
should conquer the devil's works in human nature? 
The greater involves the less. All true conquest must 
be fundamental, and to be fundamental it must be 
moral. To the man who has conquered himself, all 
other conquests must be easy. Only a man's bad 
elements stand between him and the greatest achieve- 
ments. If the prince of this world finds nothing in a 
man, that man is free of the checks and impediments 
which limit abnormal human nature. 

Miracles can be difficult of credence only according 
to the low spiritual altitude from which they are 
viewed. As wonder is a sign of ignorance, so unbe- 
lief is a sign of incompleteness. The unlettered man 
is amazed at language which to the learned man is 
perfectly simple, just because the learned man has 
conquered himself by bringing his powers under ade- 
quate discipline, whereas the untaught man is ruled 
by his own ignorance. The novice, in anything, is 
necessarily impressed with the difficulty of a great 
work, whereas the adept has oveicome all the dis- 
turbing sensations which inevitably accompany in- 
experience. The novice invariably first sees the 
difficulty ; he is conscious of a disparity between the 
forces at his command, and the result to be attained, 
and soon augments difficulty into impossibility. The 



68 ECCE DEUS. 

man of diminutive faith, a man in whom the self- 
element is uppermost, is astounded at the miracles of 
Jesus Christ ; while the man of large faith, in whom 
the self-element is subordinated, accepts them with 
composure. Christ himself taught the doctrine both 
negatively and positively, and with incessant urgency, 
that faith was the nexus binding the natural to the 
supernatural. In proportion as any man has faith, is 
he led away from himself; and this brings us to the 
point just stated, that self-conquest makes all other 
conquests easy. Christ said that faith even so small 
as a grain of mustard-seed was more than a match for 
mountains. Why not? Power is mental rather than 
physical. It would be a poor thing to be a man, if 
he could not make himself master of the dust on which 
he lives. But the highest mastery is moral, and if 
the moral element is wrong, his dominion is of course 
abridged or upset. Wickedness is weakness. As the 
intellectual man inhabits a wider region than the man 
who is ignorant, so the good man has a power com- 
pared with which the bad man's rulership is a pitiful 
travesty of influence. The bad man has the power of 
destruction, the good man of restoration. Any beast 
can do mischief. But more on this point presently. 

There is nothing in the nature of things to prevent 
miracles being wrought to-day as well as they were 
ever wrought. The Yogis among the Hindus believed 
that they could acquire perfect mastery over elemen- 
tary matter. They sought to effect a vital union be- 
tween the spirit that was in the body, and the spirit 
that was in nature, and having effected that mystic 
union, the Yogi was master of the situation, traversing 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 69 

space, raising the dead, rendering himself invisible, 
and going np to Siva, the spirit and essence of all 
creation. There is a good deal more in this philo- 
sophic dreaming than our modern notions may be 
prepared to allow. It was not the mere power of 
the hand which the Yogi sought, but the wider and 
grander empire of the spirit. What the Yogi sought 
to effect was a union between spirit and spirit ; and 
this was precisely what Christ sought to effect when 
he demanded faith as the condition of miraculous heal- 
ing. Where this union was complete, the working of 
miracles was as natural and easy as breathing. They 
were miracles only to the observers, not to the workers, 
for the workers stood on a moral elevation high above 
them, and saw their exact relation to God and man. 
It is not extraordinary that the faith which is not 
strong enough to work miracles should not be strong 
enough to believe that miracles can be wrought, though 
it may be narrow enough to brand him as a fanatic 
who affirms their possibility. Man cannot advance to 
the miracle except through the faith. There can be 
no doubt that the faith of the world has gone down ; 
and in part this may be accounted for by the intellectual 
transition through which we are being driven by re 
vived and ambitious science. We have come upon an 
era which has hardly time to pause and add results ; in- 
formation is arriving so quickly, the messengers throng 
upon each other so tumultuously, that most of men 
have taken upon themselves the duties of recorders ; 
and if sometimes they are a little heedless of the punc- 
tuation, and by mistaking a comma for a full stop they 
do now and again speak too soon, the impatience or 



70 ECCE DEUS. 

the precipitancy is not difficult of explanation. In 
fact, it is a hint that men are longing for the end. The 
great, suffering, human world feels that its day must 
be approaching sunset. It has been a long, troubled, 
changeful day, and men are now sighing for release 
and rest. The shaking and damaging of faith is a 
hint of a crisis, and the old words, sad as a sigh from 
the heart, come up with great force — " When the Son 
of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth ? " 
There is a touching plaintiveness in the inquiry ; he 
seems to have anticipated but a poor reception for 
himself. Perhaps, however, as in the days of his flesh, 
the unfaith of those who ought to have been nearest 
will be counterbalanced by the trust of men now sup- 
posed to be afar off. 

It is a mistake to imagine that faith has anything to 
fear from science. Wherever science stops, faith must 
begin. Science has in many things altered the stand- 
point, or extended the domain of faith, but has never 
rendered faith unnecessary. It has enlarged the faith 
of childhood into the faith of manhood, but every hint 
of light which it has discovered has pointed out a 
great gloom beyond. It was intended that Credo 
should be succeeded by Scio ; yet knowledge is val- 
uable, not only for what is in itself, but as showing 
how much there yet remains to be known, and by so 
much as it does this it actually increases the sphere of 
faith. 

One of the most persuasive features of the Christian 
miracles is that they were associated with a true human 
compassion on the part of Jesus Christ. They were 
not displays of mere power. They made a heavy 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 7 1 

drain upon his sympathy and love. When he saw 
blind, deaf, insane, tormented men, he had compas- 
sion on them. His emotional nature was profoundly 
stirred. Christ's was not dry power — huge, unsym- 
pathetic strength. As in all great characters there 
was much womanliness in Christ. The tear was never 
far to fetch. With one human parent only, it seems 
as if the full force of his mother's tender nature was 
reproduced in him. When Omnipotence weeps, we 
should consider the meaning which lies behind the 
tears. It has been pointed out that the Olympian gods 
contrived to keep themselves free from the pains and 
cares of the mortals whom they ruled. For them it 
was enough to govern — it was too much to suffer. 
In bitter accents did Achilles reproach the gods, as 
he attempted to comfort the hoary Priam. 

^(bstp dc/vv/uivoig' avjol ds t axqdieg elalv. 

But Christ's life was not " griefless ; " his word of 
power was spoken with a tenderness which the world 
will remember forever. It is not difficult to see the 
consonance of the mystery here. The man who came 
to be a Saviour, and to found a monarchy upon himself, 
should be possessed of the finest and most accessible 
sensibilities, for monarchs can be monarchs only so long 
as they hold the hearts of men. Monarchy, in its last 
analysis and highest application, is really a double- 
sided term, meaning not only rulership, but rulership 
by consent. Men cannot be permanently held by mere 
power ; they will fear it, admire it, and then throw it 
off. Everything tires but love. Prophecies fail, tongues 



72 ECCE DEUS. 

cease, love alone is immortal. The monarchy of Christ 
was founded upon the heart, upon love, and therefore 
with a consistency which is too profound to be acci- 
dental he had compassion upon all who trustfully in- 
voked his power. He wanted the healed man after- 
wards. The client was to become the ally. Gratitude 
was to become loyalty, and on this deep base the world- 
wide kingdom was to be established. 

Another feature of the mighty works, coincident 
with the compassion which they expressed, is their 
tmselfishness. The worker is everywhere not power- 
ful only, but good. Once indeed he gave an intima- 
tion, incidentally, of what would happen if he were 
to let loose his power in all its terribleness ; the damn- 
ing word fell upon a fruitless tree, and to the v^ry 
roots it withered away. What if the same annihi- 
lating word had fallen upon useless men? It was well 
no doubt to leave one such memorial of mere power, 
that society might see how short a distance lay between 
life and death. It has been pointed out by a recent 
writer, as a curious circumstance, that men should 
hazard so much open, contemptuous, and even violent 
opposition to a man who carried such resources of 
power. They did not stand in awe of him, but con- 
tradicted him to his face, and took up stones to stone 
him. This does seem contradictory to the general 
expectation which such circumstances naturally excite. 
Looked at from this distance of time, and under the 
conditions of our ordinary life, it is impossible to be- 
lieve that men should be so insane as to take up stones 
against a man who had just shown that he could open 
the eyes of the blind, cleanse the virus from the blood 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 73 

of the leper, and reanimate the dead. They had not 
heard of his doing so, but had actually seen him. If 
they believed their own senses they could have no 
doubt about the fact of Christ's unexampled power, 
yet they took up stones to stone him ; it was worse 
than attempting to stone the lightning, — madder than 
throwing dust in the face of a storm ! Yet they did it. 
The explanation of this circumstance lies deeper, 
probably, than has been recently suggested. In one 
view of the case, the action of taking up stones to 
stone such a man was on the part of the Jews not only 
natural, but, considering their traditions and circum- 
stances, rather admirable than otherwise. They were 
Old Testament men, and all Old Testament men be- 
lieved in stones. They would in a moment answer an 
idea with a stone, and cleave down erratic thinkers 
with the edge of the sword. But the action of the 
Jews was admirable rather than otherwise, on the 
ground that they showed how religious conviction lay 
deeper than all fear of mere power. The Jews were 
religious men ; they had sacred historic documents to 
refer to, with many traditional legends ; the man be- 
fore them laid claims to dignities which they could not 
harmonize with interpretations of the oracles ; and 
though he seemed to be able to do as he willed with 
the universe, yet in the very face of his stupendous 
and never-baffled power they took up stones to stone 
him. Their action was really a grand tribute to the 
force of religion in the heart of men. Their theism 
was arrayed against this Christism, and with little of 
physical power they opposed a man whom they be- 
lieved to be a blasphemous and mendacious talker. 
4 



74 ECCE DEUS. 

This probably goes nearer to the reality of the case 
than some recent theories, though they too are not 
without value. It is quite true that Christ had always 
used his power beneficently ; " not to destroy men's 
lives, but to save them," was written on all he did ; 
the fear which his works were calculated to excite was 
not . Jcirm, but religious awe ; his power was construc- 
tive, not destructive. This view was much strength- 
ened by Christ's own method of meeting those who 
took up stones to stone him, for in his turn he showed 
the power of deep religious conviction on human life. 
He did not lay them at his feet as dead men, nor did 
he even send upon them temporary blindness, or any 
kind of physical distress. What he could have done ! 
When they stooped to take up stones he might have 
fastened them in their stooping attitude, and left them 
as warnings to the whole progeny of scoffers. Instead 
of this he reasons with them, cites the good works he 
has done, and asks them to point out the particular one 
for which they stone him. He calls them to calm, 
consideration. He shows no fear of the stoning, does 
not even care to condemn it — probably he was touched 
by their zeal for God ; that was something to begin 
with and to work upon, and he could not witness it 
without feeling more and more the depth of human 
nature and the importance of its restoration. They 
believed in one side of his own nature, had they but 
known it! "Ye believe in God, believe also in me," 
— only an "also" between God and Christ! The 
boldness of his scheme, too, considered in a purely 
human view, is the more apparent by his first appear- 
ing among a people who knew and revered the true 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 75 

God. He did not try to impose upon an idolatrous or 
ignorant people, but began under the very light of the 
Shekinah, among the people whose prophets had 
heard the voice of the Eternal. He operated upon 
the oldest and ripest theism of the world. This was 
dangerous work for a fanatic. He must be not an 
impostor, but a madman, who challenges heaven and 
earth in the interest of a lie. Having to encounter a 
theism so advanced, because so true and simple, Christ 
could well understand how the Jews would be indig- 
nant at any dishonor put upon God ; and this indigna- 
tion, which at first sight was a great hinderance, was 
the natural expression of a fact which would one day 
be turned to the best account. They seemed to feel 
themselves safe from his power while they rested upon 
the God of their fathers, and so made a claim upon the 
practical resources of the pre-Christian theology which 
would not shrink from comparison with the boldest 
confidence which men can repose in Christ's own 
promises. Fearing God, they were lifted above all 
other fear. The ancient songs of trust were repeating 
themselves in their souls — " God is our refuge and 
strength ; " " The Lord is my light and my salvation : 
whom shall I fear?" On the other hand, Christ also 
showed the power of the divine element in man. He 
was alone, or if not literally alone, his companionships 
were such as to constitute a bitter satire upon his claims 
to be considered Messiah, Redeemer, King. His com- 
panions made him look ridiculous in the eyes of the 
ruling classes. Yet with so little visible background, 
he talked and worked with the consciousness of a man 
who could not be put down, and could not even be 



76 ECCE DEUS. 

stoned. As he could not Christianize men by mira- 
cles, so he could not be deposed from the Messiahship 
by stones. On both sides, mere power was shown to 
be useless as a moral agent. The battle must be fought 
with different weapons. Spiritual results must be at- 
tained by spiritual processes. Still the mighty works, 
bearing, as they did, a constructive aspect, were auxil- 
iary to the main end. They certainly called attention 
to the worker, and as certainly they made a powerful 
appeal to the persons who were benefited by them. 
One of those persons, for example, made a trenchant 
and powerful defence of Christ before the Pharisees. 
Like a common-sense man, he took his stand upon the 
simple facts of the case ; despising all the cajolery of 
the baffled and incredulous critics, he said, with the 
charming and unanswerable frankness of an honest 
and thankful man, " Whether he be a sinner or no, I 
know not ; one thing I know, that whereas I was 
blind, now I see." Christ had thus, by his miraculous 
pow r er, made a marked advance upon the man's nature, 
— he had established " one thing" in his convictions, 
and thus prepared the way for further conquest. Ac- 
cordingly we find this to be the case, for the man after- 
wards "worshipped him." The mighty Worker was 
admitted through the body to the soul. We have only 
to take this instance as a specimen, and to multiply it 
by the number of the mighty works, to obtain a com- 
parative view of the value of constructive miracles in 
the propagation of Christian faith. Not only upon the 
clients themselves, but i pon thoughtful observers, the 
miracles produced very helpful impressions, as may be 
seen from the confession of a ruler of the Jews, who 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 77 

candidly said, " Rabbi, we know that thou art a 
teacher come from God, for no man can do these 
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." 
This was the conclusion of a reasoner, who did not 
examine effects in the light of religious prejudices, 
but who considered them in relation to adequate 
causes. He had seen displays of human power, and 
he knew the general range of human ability, but these 
particular miracles of the despised Rabbi went far 
beyond all that he had seen, far beyond all he had 
imagined, and compelled the conclusion, willing or 
not willing, that this man was at least a co-worker with 
God, carrying keys of power, such as he had never 
seen on the girdle of the strongest man. 

Then, too, as already hinted, the miracles bore a 
special relation to the devil himself. The miracles 
were polygonal ; one side looked towards suffering men, 
another towards observers, a third towards doubters, 
a fourth towards the devil, and so on. Christ's struggle 
with the tempter was only begun in the wilderness ; it 
was continued to the very end of his earthly course. 
No devil, would have meant no Christ. Peter put the 
case concisely and strikingly, when he talked to Cor- 
nelius : speaking of Jesus Christ, he said, " He went 
about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed 
of the devil." The works of the enemy were on every 
hand ; they must be thrown into contrast by the work? 
of the Son. They must be distinctly charged upon 
the enemy, and the responsibility must be publicly and 
immovably fixed upon him. No doubt must be left 
on men's minds as to the source of all evil and suffer- 
ing. The two workers were thus brought, as it were, 



78 ECCE DEUS. 

face to face before society, and each was openly iden- 
tified with a particular course. On the one hand there 
was destruction, on the other restoration. Men thus 
had an opportunity of seeing that Christ's opposition 
to the devil was the controversial aspect of his love for 
man ; an opportunity which owed much to the mirac- 
ulous works which immediately appealed to the physi- 
cal senses and the common instinct of the observers. 
The opportunity would not have been marked by the 
same commanding breadth, if Christ had confined him- 
self entirely to teaching ; the cure of the body being 
more easily appreciable as an introductory step, than a 
direct attempt at the illumination of the mind. Every 
miracle was a challenge to a comparison of powers. 
Every healed man was Christ's living protest against 
death. The mere fact of the miracle was but a sylla- 
ble in Christ's magnificent doctrine of life. Christ's 
mission may be summed up in the word Life ; the 
devil's, in the word Death ; so that every recovered 
limb, every opened eye, every purified leper, was a 
confirmation of his statement, " I have come, that they 
might have life." 

The limitation of miraculous power was twofold. 
There was, first, the limitation which came from the 
unreceptive condition of the people ; and there was 
the limitation necessitated by the difference between 
the outward and the inward, the material and the 
moral. At one place Christ could not do many 
mighty works because of the unbelief of the people ; 
the utmost he could do was to lay his hands upon a 
few sick folks and heal them. The electric current 
was incomplete. The inhabitants were self-involved ; 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 79 

no tendril of the heart was putting itself foith in 
search of protection ; all the fibres were knotted in 
impenetrable selfishness : Christ himself had no power 
there. He must have faith as a starting-point, other- 
wise no miracles in harmony with his moral purpose 
could be wrought. Miracles of mere power he could 
have performed anywhere, but such miracles were not 
included in his plan of life. His omnipotence was the 
agent of his mercy, and consequently it was the prov- 
ince of mercy to determine where the services of om- 
nipotence should be offered, and where mercy was 
rejected omnipotence was held in abeyance. On one 
occasion, indeed, Christ's power operated in a direc- 
tion that was merely destructive. A legion of devils 
besought him to let them enter into a herd of swine 
(a terrible illustration of the intolerableness of life in 
hell), and on obtaining permission the whole herd, to 
the number of two thousand, ran into the sea and was 
destroyed. Much has been said against the people 
who besought Christ to leave their coasts on finding 
their swine destroyed ; they have been charged with 
sordidness, selfishness, and low ideas of the value of 
human amelioration : though we may steal a cheap 
reputation for magnanimity at the expense of those 
unfortunate people, yet they were right after all in 
desiring such a man as they took Christ to be to 
depart from their midst. Their request was the 
expression of a great principle in the human constitu- 
tion, implanted there by the Creator. Men cannot be 
benefited by mere power, but they are necessarily 
reduced to a meaner manhood by the presence of a 
power that is destructive. The history of despotism 



80 ECCE DEUS. 

proves this. To have in the city or nation a power 
that is incontrollably destructive is to live in perpetual 
fear, and fear can never train a noble and generous 
manhood. People never beg thunder and lightning 
to continue amongst them, but they often wish that 
summer would never go away. The Jews, therefore, 
who lost their swine, showed what would have been 
the result if Christ had given full scope to his power 
of destruction ; men would have been overshadowed 
by a great apprehension, and in the darkness of such 
a horror would have dwindled into a pitiable dwarf- 
ishness. Besides, as said before, there is nothing so 
common and so vulgar as destructive power. The 
meanest insect can destroy the loveliest flower : the 
coarsest lips can utter defamatory and injurious words. 
All destructiveness, individual, social, national, lies in 
the same direction, and the beginning and end of that 
direction is the devil. The constructiveness of the 
Christian miracles is a most emphatic confirmation of 
Christ's claim to be the Saviour of the world. They 
are consonant with the natal song — "good will to 
men ; " — they are opposed to the unchanging diabolic 
policy under which the world has endured so much, 
and they prepare men to accept the promise of a 
higher salvation than that of the body. 

We have said that there is nothing in the nature 
of things to prevent miracles being wrought to-day. 
This is true abstractly, yet miracles are practically 
superseded by the dominion of the Spirit. The work- 
ing of miracles in a purely spiritual dispensation 
would be an anachronism. Miracles were quite in 
accordance with the personal superintendence of the 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 8l 

visible Christ, but now that Christ is no more known 
after the flesh the whole system of objective demon- 
stration has gone up with him. What, then, is in 
harmony with the rulership of the Spirit? Not mira- 
cles, certainly, but science probably. Intellect is now 
summoned to a new and critical position. Creation 
has apparently exhausted its period of reticence, and 
seems now, using figurative language, to be prepared 
for a frank communication of its secrets ; — or better, 
man has been educated so far by Christian agencies 
as now to be master of the right method of holding 
intercourse with the laws which have been the prob- 
lem and even the dread of many ages. Humanity 
has been carried forward by the mystery which began 
in Christ — forward from the material to the spiritual, 
from the miraculous to the moral. Thus reason, 
which has been so long reviled, is no longer neces- 
sarily the corrupt and misleading agent that it was, 
but an honorable, because divinely-appointed guide. 
This is the inevitable result of a spiritual dispensation. 
The visible Christ made appeals to the natural senses ; 
the Spirit does the inward and vital work of convic- 
tion. The Holy Spirit, as becomes his nature, stands 
in the line of the intellectual faculties, elevating them, 
purifying and strengthening them, and giving them 
new power of investigation and appliance. Distinc- 
tively, then, this is the dispensation of the Spirit, the 
age of mind, the era of reason. It does not follow, 
however, that Reason has completed her education ; 
and by so much as Reason is incomplete it must be 
carefully distinguished from Understanding. The 
danger which some persons apprehend from what is 

4* 



82 ECCE DEUS. 

termed Rationalism arises from a confusion of terms. 
Reason is an instrument, Understanding is a result. 
In proportion as reason is educated, a prudent hesita- 
tion marks all its processes. Philosophy is more 
tolerant than ignorance. He who knows most of the 
strength of the human mind, knows most of its weak- 
ness. Truth has nothing to fear from rationalism, 
but from irrationalism. The era of reason is prelim- 
inary to the age of understanding. The greatest 
reasoner in the apostolic church always kept this in 
view : he said, " I know in part ; " "I see through a 
glass darkly ; " afterwards, under the inspiration of a 
splendid hope, he added, "but then shall I know' 9 
The world never could have been reared by under- 
standing, only by promise ; this is in keeping with the 
whole constitution of things. The child of the phi- 
losopher is not permitted to begin where his father 
ended, but is driven back to start with the child of the 
unlettered peasant, as if his father had not made one 
attainment in learning. In this way society in all its 
breadth is carried through the same experiences, and 
educated to a common sympathy. Promise, then, not 
knowledge, has been the great stimulant of human 
education ; and as for understanding, that lies far 
beyond this initial sphere. Early in the world's his- 
tory it was shown that knowledge was out of place, 
except under such conditions as required the presence 
of hope to inspire and impel mankind. The knowing 
man, consequently, was sent out of the sphere which 
he had desecrated, and a flaming sword was made 
to show that knowledge might be bought too dearly. 
The Holy Spirit presides over the intellectual devel- 



THE MIGHTY WORKS. 83 

opment of man, leading him, as Christ promised, into 
all truth — the truth of the body, the truth of nature, 
as well as the truth of religion specially so called. 
The miraculous is now set back in distant history as 
one phase of divine revelation, which may yet teach 
us much of power combined with mercy ; but the 
spiritual sheds its penetrating lustre over the future, 
charming men into deeper investigation than was 
possible to the ages which have been trained by 
symbol, and enigma, and miracle. What function 
Christ assigned to the Holy Spirit will, however, be 
considered more in detail in another chapter. 



84 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CALLING OF MEN. 

HITHERTO the Beloved Son has been alone. In 
his Baptism and Temptation no man stood with 
liim ; but shortly after, he began to move more con- 
spicuously in society, and to clear for himself a space 
in the world. Christ's call upon men to join him is, 
perhaps, more astonishing than many of the miracles 
which he wrought. First words are generally key- 
words. They commit the speaker to a policy, and 
when spoken to minds which have been excited by 
great expectations are probably never forgotten. Look- 
ing at Christ's moral work in the light of his miracles, 
one cannot but wonder why such a man did not pros- 
ecute his work single-handed. What need had he 
for fellowship? how could men be associated with 
him without feeling most oppressively the impassable 
chasm which lay between him and themselves? 

Christ used the imperative mood freely at the be- 
ginning of his ministry ; " Repent," " Follow," were 
among his earliest public words. In the wilderness 
he had gradually risen to an imperative tone — from 
a great principle which underlay all life to a written 
revelation, and then to a moral indignation which could 
not tolerate the presence of the enemy — " Get thee 
hence, Satan." This seems to have been the process 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 85 

through which he passed to the highest courage : it 
was not at first that he commanded Satan to begone, 
it was not until attack had followed attack that the 
tone of personal supremacy penetrated the heart of 
the tempter. On leaving the wilderness he brings 
with him this noble courage, and opens his ministry 
by calling upon men to repent and to follow him. 
Had he left the wilderness other than as a conqueror, 
Ms tone would at least have been hesitant ; but having 
dealt the first shattering blow upon the diabolic em- 
pire, he follows it up by publicly drawing a line of sep- 
aration between one class of men and another. The 
subtle consistency between the tone of the victor and 
the tone of the evangelist should not be lost sight of in 
estimating, the value of the Christian argument. The 
quality of the voice is the same in both cases ; the 
same firm emphasis ; the same direct appeal. The 
postponement of the call, too, until the close of the 
temptation, is a fact of supreme importance. What 
confidence could an untried man have in himself? 
The man who has no faith in himself is weak ; the 
man who has a false faith in himself is deceptive ; the 
man whose faith is founded upon the fact of a great 
conquest is strong and honest in proportion to that 
faith. The devil had never been ordered out of the 
way so peremptorily before, and the utterance of such 
an order, straining as it must have done all the forces 
of the soul, was succeeded by a period of great pros- 
tration. Angels came and ministered strength, and 
then followed just what has followed in all human 
experience — a consciousness of tried power, a calm 
but fervent determination to put the hard-gained in- 



86 ECCE DEUS. 

fluence to further uses. He who had successfully 
ordered off the devil must now do other work. The 
great battle must be succeeded by a great construction. 
Christ, claiming to be King and Ruler of men, began 
his society with two obscure laborers. The narrative 
gives no warrant for concluding that the men had 
heard any private and special exposition of his views, 
doctrines, or plans. In common with all Jews, they 
might have had expectations and desires in reference 
to a king, but there is no authority for saying that they 
had had any preliminary intercourse with Jesus Christ. 
The call met a deep craving of the heart, and at 
once they joined Christ the Man, without knowing 
anything of Christ the Doctrine. The heart wanted a 
heart : life demanded life. The world had lived long 
enough upon written promises ; the cold parchment 
was becoming colder day by day. There was an 
aching at the heart of society — a great trouble — an 
exciting wonder. The call had a peculiar charm 
about it in so far as it demanded attachment to a 
visible person. Not a Creed but a Life bade them 
" follow." The men who were called were not likely 
to know much about doctrine. Who could at the 
beginning? Life can be reared only by life. It is so 
in the family, and must be so in the church. The last 
thing that earnest inquirers care about is a written, 
formal, dogmatic creed. Such a creed, in fact, is 
simply a sign that there has been overbearing dicta- 
tion on one hand, or hypocrisy on another. A written 
creed is in the nature of things only an inconvenient 
convenience. The heart can never write all that it 
believes. What wonder then if, when a living and 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 87 

glowing love comes to read the tabulated doctrines of 
the church, it should complain, hesitate, or rebel? It 
has often been asserted that Christ did not set down in 
sequential order what is known in these modern days 
as a system of divinity. The assertion is not only 
true as a matter of fact, but true as an evidence of his 
Godhead. The divine, the immeasurable, the eternal, 
cannot be formulated. Life cannot be systematized. 
Architecture may, so may astronomy, botany, and all 
other arts and sciences. But life is not a science : the 
soul is not an art. Immediately that the scientific line 
is crossed, the power of systematizing, if not lost, is so 
crippled and deranged as to be but a poor accommoda- 
tion. Language itself, as partaking of the nature of a 
system, is often felt to be an inconvenience, useful for 
expressing what is uppermost, but nearly powerless in 
the articulation of what is deepest in the soul. Wisely, 
therefore, Christ wrote nothing, for written language is 
more difficult of interpretation than spoken language. 
The eye, the tone, the smile, help words that are 
spoken ; which is but another way of saying that life 
is the only true interpreter. The moment that the 
grammar and the lexicon are called in, strife begins, 
and logomachy deposes wisdom. A tone would do 
more than all syntax to give the meaning of some doc- 
trines. The spoken word is life ; the written word is 
statuary. To have come, therefore, with a written 
creed in quest of signatures would have been a vain 
errand. The world has differed more over the in- 
terpretation of its own writing than over anything 
else — so much so that the interpretation of writing 
has become a profession, in which the directest con- 



88 ECCE DEUS. 

tradictions are constantly maintained at the cost of 
vindictive or credulous clients, Parliamentary debates 
may be ambiguous, but Parliamentary Acts are in- 
comprehensible. 

Probably the greatest stumbling-block to the exten- 
sion of Christ's influence is scholastic or formulated 
theology. The world is now waiting for a voice cry- 
ing in the wilderness that men are to be saved not by 
theology but by Christ. The Church must go back 
to Christ's own living and mighty way of talking to 
craving and aching hearts. Men must behold the 
Lamb, not the controversies which have raged about 
him. Throughout his ministry the exaltation of him- 
self was the most conspicuous feature: " follow me," 
— " come unto me," — " he that believeth on me," — 
" he that loveth father or mother more than me is not 
worthy of me," — this is the personal strain from be- 
ginning to end, and it is the only strain adapted to the 
capture and redemption of the world. It is often 
possible to understand a man when it is difficult to 
understand his creed. The author may be less a prob- 
lem than his book. Christ calls men to himself with- 
out first setting forth a list of points to be accepted ; 
men go to the doctrine through the man, not to the 
man through the doctrine. We dare not ask Christ 
what he believes, or what we ourselves may have to 
believe at some future time ; we have to believe in the 
Revealer, and then we shall have no difficulty about 
the revelation. In the first instance we go to the Man 
Christ Jesus, and sit at his feet, waiting, wondering, 
and loving much. We are touched by his love, sub- 
dued by his tenderness, before we are enriched with 
his doctrine. 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 89 

The call of the Church often differs from the call 
of Christ in being a call to theology. In some places 
in modern Christendom it will be found that the 
Lord's table is surrounded by theologians, persons who 
have passed successfully through more or less of a 
theological examination ; and that many feel them- 
selves excluded from the memorial service because 
though they love Christ and could die for him, yet 
they cannot pronounce the doctrinal shibboleth. What 
does a newly-quickened heart, coming up out of the 
waters of penitence, and just about to move into the 
wilderness of temptation, know about the Trinity in 
Unity, the federal headship of Adam, the philosophy 
of sacrifice, or the metaphysics of theology ? Probably 
nothing. Yet such ignorance is not incompatible with 
young life. Does the infant know the mystery of love 
when it is clasped in the parental breast? Do parents 
insist that their children shall study agriculture before 
they eat of the fruits of the earth ? When a man de- 
clares that he loves Jesus Christ, he has a right to eat 
of the bread and drink of the cup which the Lord 
appointed. Love first, knowledge afterwards : with 
love to begin with, all else will come quietly, " with- 
out observation," yet with unspeakable joy. The heart 
will build up a belief as it wants it, and wear it grace- 
fully because it is its own. Sling or mail, no matter, 
provided the man be a warrior cool and resolute. The 
faith w 7 hich Christ seeks is probably not to be found 
in any one sect ; part of it is in all, and when it is 
collated and arranged, it will be the best representa- 
tive of national churchism. Uniformity of theological 
creed is a simple impossibility, and as undesirable as 



90 ECCE DEUS. 

it is impossible. The object is the same, yet the 
views are different ; the foundation is the rock, yet 
each man may adopt his own architectural style ; the 
parents may be the same, yet in stature, form, faculty, 
disposition, the children may be entirely different. 
The sun brings all manner of flowers out of the earth, 
varying endlessly in hue and fragrance ; what if the 
light above the brightness of the sun bring a still 
more varied summer out of the winter-bound heart 
of man ? 

This view does not diminish the influence of belief. 
It merely points out that the man comes before the 
creed, and that there is a difference of the gravest 
importance between trust in the living Christ and the 
acceptance of a few theological statements about him. 
In the former case there is a full surrender of love, in 
the latter a mere intellectual assent, unaccompanied 
by moral enthusiasm. The one is necessarily as- 
sociated with passion and demonstration, the other 
may consist with the lowest indifference. 

The manner of the Call was quite consonant with 
the mystery of all that is summed up in the word 
Christ. Its abruptness cannot be overlooked. The 
ages had been undergoing a long and exciting prep- 
aration, and by the very strain of eager watching 
and listening had been educated to the finest sensibil- 
ity. Otherwise how can the promptness and un- 
studied grace of the fishermen's response be accounted 
for? There was no personal intercourse, so far as 
the narrative goes, no collusion, no pre-arrangement ; 
yet at a word the lowly men abandon their vocation, 
and assume a new attitude towards society. At once 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 9 1 

the Abrahamic call is suggested : * here is the same 
abruptness, the same urgency, the same mystery of 
the end. Men of quick ear have heard the same tone 
in the second call as was heard in the first, and have 
come to know better what was meant by the bewilder- 
ing statement, " Before Abraham was, I am." But 
these men were not Abrahams. Though we make 
their acquaintance somewhat abruptly, we do them 
no injustice in saying that we do not see in them the 
breadth and general vitality of manhood which were 
so prominent in the father of the faithful. When we 
first meet Simon and Andrew, they are but names to 
us ; we have had no preparatory hint of the quality of 
the men, and cannot therefore but hesitate before 
coupling them in the same commendation with 
Abraham. A man with an historic reputation is not 
to be dwarfed into the stature of men whose world 
hardly extended beyond the boats in which they spent 
their unknown lives. We think we hear an earlier 
call than that of Abraham ; this seems to be a call of 
something beautiful out of something rude ; and 
whether or not it does not accord with " Let us make 
man," is a question which ought not to be left un- 
considered. The material was low and rough ; if out 
of such dust man could be rebuilt, the rebuilder must 
surely be God. Another word on this presently. 

In all revolutionary movements there have been 
men who have heard nothing but " Follow," and 
have gone bravely forward to what was mystery at 
first, but what became familiar and venerated truth 
at last. Such men cannot be accounted for. The 

* Ecce Homo, p. 40. 



9 2 



ECCE DEUS. 



common rules have no application to them. They 
are the enigmas of history. We have seen them go, 
and deemed them mad, but in the end have been 
compelled to withdraw the charge from them, and 
fasten it on ourselves. They " saw a hand we did not 
see, and heard a voice we did not hear." The pros- 
pect before such men has generally been unalluring, 
often most disheartening ; cloud and storm darkening 
and streaming from the sky, bitter wind striking them 
in the breast, and treacherous bogs lying between them 
and the promised land. Still they heard the " Fol- 
low" which was inaudible to duller ears, and went 
forward at the cost of their whole reputation for saga- 
city. What had Simon and Andrew to "follow"? 
Looked at from the common point of view, their 
decision was simple fanaticism. The man who had 
invited them was nameless and powerless, according 
to conventional notions of fame and influence, yet 
they went with as prompt and complete a surrender 
as if a king had offered them the riches of a kingdom. 
It is true that the men were called to a higher voca- 
tion ; they were to be not fishers only, but " fishers of 
men ; " yet even this promised elevation does not 
compass the mystery of the obedience, for multitudes 
declined Christ's invitations, and unnumbered mil- 
lions to-day hear his voice, and yet practically treat 
his promises as they would treat so many lies. The 
result of Christ's first call cannot but be interesting to 
all students of his life. What if Simon and Andrew 
had treated his appeal with contempt? What if 
James and John had laughed in his face? What if 
he who conquered the devil had been overmatched 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 93 

by men ? The experiment was most perilous for an 
impostor, was impossible to a mere man, and could 
have been undertaken by God only. An impostor 
would have begun more warily ; a mere man would 
have begun at another point ; only God would have 
begun where Christ began. These little circum- 
stances are great revelations. 

The persons, then, who were called are not such as 
might have been expected ; yet on examination it will 
be found that they were the only persons who could 
have been called, in harmony with the whole mystery 
of Jesus Christ. The method of calling men which 
Christ adopted is worth studying, if only to see how 
statesmanlike, how philosophical, yet, on the face of 
it, how absurd it was. He announces his purpose in 
one concise sentence : "I came not to call the right- 
eous, but sinners to repentance." This brings us to a 
wider meaning of the term " call" than we have in the 
word "follow ; " yet take the declaration as an author- 
itative exposition of Christ's visit among men, and 
examine it as a method of stating an object, and we 
shall see how profound is the conception of human 
want which it expresses. This is quite a new voice 
on the earth. It had been understood up to this time 
that " sinners" had to be " consumed," " destroyed," 
" ashamed," " confounded," " desolate ; " their teeth 
were to be " broken," and their soul was to be 
u slain." Every man was apparently under the im- 
pression that he praised God in proportion as he 
cursed the sinner. The evangelical prophecies are no 
exceptions to this rule, for they were, of course, one 
with the spirit of him whom they announced. The 



94 ECCE DEUS. 

rule relates to the general spirit of the world, to the 
tone of government, even government as administered 
by righteous men. Jesus Christ propounds the star- 
tling doctrine that he had come from heaven for the 
express purpose of calling bad men to him. Could 
any doctrine, abstractly considered, be more horrify- 
ing? We have become accustomed to its repetition, 
until we think nothing of it ; but put the shadow upon 
the dial back eighteen hundred years, and say, how 
should we like to put ourselves side by side in the 
public streets with a man who had openly announced 
that his sole business on earth was to hold intercourse 
with bad hearts? The worse the man, the deeper 
the interest Christ took in him. Polite society was 
shocked, and " righteous " society horror-stricken : 
still he held on his way, and still he graciously 
answered (so graciously that one wonders that every 
heart on hearing it does not instantly admit him as its 
Lord), "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance." It was a hard errand to come upon, 
and only the Son of God could have undertaken it. 
What eye that was merely human could see the 
grandeur which was concealed under the ruins of 
humanity ? 

Christ began at the lowest point in society. The 
kingdom which he came to establish was to be an 
everlasting kingdom ; and everlasting kingdoms must 
have adequate foundations. Christ recognized the 
essential distinction between ?nen and man, and this 
fact gave him a reach and power over his work which 
otherwise would have been unattainable. The worst 
men make the best. A little nature could not accom 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 95 

modate a legion of devils — one man held more than 
could be held by two thousand swine. By so much 
as a man is diabolized may he be deified. It was, 
therefore, a great tribute paid to the worth of human 
nature when Christ spent his life in gathering and 
rebuilding its very ruins. He " came not to call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance." 

No statesman can afford to omit the common peo- 
ple from his calculation. They are the very root 
and core of society. Kings are only the blossomings 
of the national tree. The roof is more dependent 
upon the foundation than the foundation upon the 
roof. Nearly all, if not quite all, the movements 
w^hich have changed the thinking, and determined 
the new courses of the w T orld, have been upward, not 
downward. The great revolutionists have generally 
been cradled in mangers, and gone through rough 
discipline in early life. Civilization is debtor to 
lowly cradles ; and unknown mothers hold a heavy 
account against the world. This is God's plan of 
uniting all classes of the family of man. 

Christ worked in harmony with the spirit of this 
plan. People that were rejected on every side be- 
came his servants, and brethren, and friends. Even 
bad women (often so near being the best !) were 
drawn towards him, as if they could get from him 
" the piece that was lost." Some of the most touch- 
ing scenes in his life relate to such women. One of 
those scenes, if nothing else remained, is enough to 
bind the world's heart to him forever. The occasion 
was one which brought out the characteristics of the 
interlocutors very sharply. A Pharisee had asked 



96 ECCE DEUS. 

Christ to break bread with him, and " a woman in 
the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that 
Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an 
alabaster box of ointment" — probably all she had 
in the world — " and stood at his feet behind him, 
weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and 
did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed 
his feet, and anointed them with the ointment," — so 
near being an angel was this poor sinning sister ! 
Never was modesty so modest, — stood at his feet, — 
stood behind him, — stood behind him zveeping: only 
God can interpret the full meaning of such tears. 
The cold-eyed Pharisee saw nothing in her but a 
" sinner ; " Christ saw a woma,7t, flesh and blood of 
his own mother, and his great gentle heart was 
shaken with unutterable pity. The Pharisee saw his 
opportunity ; like all little natures, he knew more 
of logic than of philanthropy, and instantly he set up 
this argument : " This man, if he were a prophet, 
would have known who and what manner of woman 
this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner." Men 
are often the victims of their own logic, — always, 
indeed, when logic leads away from love. The eye 
that saw the "woman" under the " sinner," saw the 
sneering sceptic under the observing but silent host. 
That eye read the Pharisee through and through. 
" Simon," said Jesus, "I have somewhat to say unto 
thee. There was a certain creditor which had two 
debtors ; the one owed five hundred pence, the other 
fifty, and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly 
forgave them both : tell me, therefore, which of them 
will love him most?" Simon liked a case of this 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 97 

kind ; it was not above his intellectual stature, though 
he little knew its moral compass. " I suppose," he 
answered, " that he to whom he forgave most." The 
answer was right ; the appeal was overwhelming. 
" Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into 
thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but 
she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them 
with the hairs of her head ; thou gavest me no kiss, 
but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not 
ceased to kiss my feet ; my head with oil thou didst 
not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet 
with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, 
which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much ; 
but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." 
The man that spake these words ought to be dear 
to the world's heart forever ! The calm tone, the 
beaming eye, the inimitable pathos, all brought to 
bear upon the stony Pharisee, with his paltry notions 
of propriety ! It is truly better to fall into the hands 
of God, than into the hands of men. A case like this 
does more to confirm the Godhead of Jesus Christ, 
than can be done by a sanhedrim of theologians, 
armed with the genius and the lore of ages. We 
have in it all the God we need. The Being that saw 
the woman in the sinner, and the sinner in the wo- 
man, that penetrated the dishonorable thoughts of the 
haughty self-idolater, and pronounced the contrite 
woman forgiven, comes before the world with claims 
w T hich God only could sustain. In the presence of 
such an incident, all verbal criticism becomes con- 
temptible ; the stormed and grateful heart exclaims, 
Ecce homo ! Ecce Deus ! 

5 



98 ECCE di;us. 

Multiply this simple story by the number of a sin- 
ners " in the world ; let every one of those sinners love 
as much as this poor woman loved, and then say if 
ever king reigned over such an empire as that in which 
Christ wou]d be enthroned? The bond of union is es- 
sentially personal. The love of each heart is lavished 
upon him. All low motives are expelled by a pure, 
intense, ever-deepening love. In this way, too, we see 
light streaming upon an overshadowing and most ap- 
palling mystery, viz., the comparative relation of sin 
to the happiness of the universe, when the divine pur- 
pose is completed. The principle laid down by Christ 
is that they who have had much forgiven, love much, 
and that there is joy in the presence of the angels of 
God over one sinner that repenteth, more than over 
ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance. 
Who can measure that " more"! Sin is thus made to 
have its compensations. The twice-born man shall 
be a double joy in his Father's house. Sin shall not 
be all loss. Even for sin's sake, heaven shall be filled 
with a sweeter and gladder hallelujah. 

By going to the lowest stratum of human nature 
Christ gave a new idea of the value of man. He built 
a kingdom out of the refuse of society. To compare 
small things with great, it has been pointed out by 
Lord Macaulay that in an English cathedral there is 
an exquisite stained window which was made by an 
apprentice out of the pieces of glass which had been 
rejected by his master, and it was so far superior to 
every other in the church that, according to tradition, 
the envious artist killed himself with vexation. All 
the builders of society had rejected the " sinners," and 



THE CALLING OF MEN. 99 

made the painted window of the " righteous." A new 
builder came ; his plan was original, startling, revolu- 
tionary ; his eye was upon the contemned material ; 
he made the first last and the last first, and the stone 
which the builders rejected he made the head stone of 
the corner. He always specially cared for the rejected 
stone. Men had always cared for the great, the beau- 
tiful, the righteous ; it was left to Christ to care for 
sinners. When Eumasus was reproached with having 
invited a beggar to the palace of Ulysses, he did not 
care formally to deny the charge, but met it with 
scorn, as if the very absurdity of the idea was its best 
refutation — ni(x)/dp d' otix olv rig xaleoi, tqv£,oviu b aviov ; 
this inquiry showing that he did not rank himself with 
fools. Even the gods were attracted by beauty, as in 
the case of Ganymede — 

" Fairest of mortals ; him the gods on score of beauty 
crowned." 

The general tone of history was such as to give Christ's 
method an appearance of the most grotesque absurdity ; 
he began where no other worker began ; precedent, the 
terror of secondary men, was against him ; and his 
contemporaries either pitied or despised, saying with 
much bitter meaning in their tone, " This man re- 
ceiveth sinners and eateth with them." The unity of 
the mystery is here apparent. He himself, on the one 
side, began at the highest, and on the other, at the low- 
est, yet the Child of the manger came to be King of 
the world. Society is moved by its extremes. Christ 
showed the value of the extreme that from immemo- 
rial time had been despised. 



IOO ECCE DEUS. 

It is remarkable that Christ is never said to have 
called a woman to follow him as he called the disci- 
ples ; and quite as remarkable that, so far as the evi 
dence goes, no woman ever spoke a word against him, 
while many women were last at the cross, and earliest 
at the sepulchre. It seems as though he had assumed 
that the womanly side of human nature would not 
require any calling ; that the heart of woman would 
instinctively welcome him as the solution of all diffi- 
culties, the sum of all charms, the sovereign of frail 
and needy creatures who have immense capacity of 
suffering, but little satisfaction in the results of mere 
logic. Christ was emphatically, uniquely, the seed 
of the woman. What woman could reject her own 
son ? Does not every woman look with intensely hope- 
ful love upon the son of her womb ? He will be her 
comfort, her song, her saviour ; she no longer lives but 
in him and for him ; through him she interprets the 
future, and for his sake takes a kinder view of all 
mankind. Christ was born to every woman. Men 
required to be called, women only to be attracted. 
Women had but to see him in order to clai-n him as 
the fairest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely ; 
to recognize him as the tenderest and wisest friend of 
womanhood. They needed no call. The dew waits 
for no voice to call it to the sun. Few women ever go 
to Christ through the medium of mere doctrine. They 
live beyond the cold propositional region. The dew 
finds its way up to the sun without knowing anything 
of the laws of motion or the mysteries of light, and 
womanly hearts go up to Christ often knowing little 
of objective theology, yet wise because inspired and 



THE CALLING OF MEN. IOX 

guided by the love which is the elect interpreter of 
God. God is love, and by her superior capacity of 
love woman is so much nearer God than man can ever 
be. It is hardly to be wondered at that millions of 
Christians even now feel that heaven itself requires the 
distinctive presence of the womanly element, and ex- 
press the feeling by addressing Mary as the mother of 
God. If Protestantism were less technical and more 
human, it would hesitate before condemning the feel- 
ing which dictates this startling appellation. The fact 
may be that God is more human than traditional doc- 
trinism has yet dared to conceive. We think of hu- 
manity too exclusively by the flesh. It is to be remem- 
bered that the body is the lesser portion of man, and 
that we speak rightly of the human mind as well as 
the human body. It is on the mind side that we ap- 
proach God, through the mind side that we communi- 
cate with God, and on the mind side that we resemble 
God. In this sense God is more human, or man more 
divine, than has yet been authenticated by the councils 
of Christendom. God is not declared to be power, 
but he is declared to be love ; whoever, therefore, can 
love most is most like God. It is not to the point to 
argue that men excel women in pure intellectual force ; 
even allowing as a conceit what we cannot concede as 
a fact, it amounts to nothing in this case. A lion is 
stronger, an eagle swifter, than man, yet it is not to 
be inferred that they are nearer God than man is ; but 
God is love, and nearness to him in soul-quality is a 
question of love. Nor is it to the point that women 
have fallen into great depths of sin ; the greater the 
depth the greater the nature. If God himself could 



I02 ECCE DEUS. 

sin, all other sinners would be forgotten in the dark- 
ness of the stupendous apostasy. 

Christ's tender recognition of little children was part 
of his Call. How could he call them, but by taking 
them up in his arms and blessing them ? They could 
not understand his words, but they understood his 
smile, as flowers understand the morning. He blessed 
them ! Fathers know a little of the meaning, and 
mothers a little more ; as for other critics, they may 
not know this mystery. He said, " Of such is the 
kingdom of heaven ; " as if heaven contained all youth, 
and beauty, and trustfulness. " He took them up in 
his arms ; " and they are there still. The " Son of 
Man " alone knows the nature of a little child. As 
the Founder of a permanent monarchy Christ knew 
the value of young life. What is a king if he be not 
supported by the passionate love of the national heart ? 
Passive allegiance is a diplomatic euphemism which 
signifies the extinction of loyalty. 



io3 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CHRIST REJECTING MEN. 

WHEN Christ said he came not to call the right- 
eous, but sinners to repentance, there must have 
been a strong ironical tone in his pronunciation of the 
word " righteous." Most truly we cannot infer from 
his reported words who the righteous were, if there 
were such. Not the Pharisees certainly, as was most 
impressively shown upon one memorable occasion. 
A Pharisee had invited Christ to dinner, and when 
the guests were ranged in order Christ openly said, 
" Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the 
cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of 
ravening and wickedness ; ye fools, did not he that 
made that which is without, make that which is 
within also?" This sentence excludes the Pharisees 
from the category of " the righteous." And the 
Scribes were associated with them, for on the same 
occasion, addressing them jointly, he said — u Woe 
unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye 
are as graves w r hich appear not, and the men that 
walk over them are not aware of them." This denun- 
ciation, which in modern days and Western lands 
would be deemed an unpardonable abuse of hospital- 
ity, could not fail to make a deep impression upon the 
minds of the guests ; this was clear from a singular 



104 ECCE DEUS. 

incident. One of the lawyers brought the matter to 
an issue : " Master," said he, " thus speaking thou 
reproachest us also." The answer was probably much 
clearer and fuller than the lawyer expected ; the spirit 
of judgment asserted itself in the boldest manner in 
Jesus Christ: " Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for 
ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and 
ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your 
fingers. Woe unto you ! for ye build the sepulchres 
of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. . . . 
Woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the 
key of knowledge : ye entered not in yourselves, and 
them that were entering in ye hindered." This exas- 
perating talk produced a most singular effect upon the 
guests. Probabh they had never come so decidedly 
in contact with this new spirit of judgment before, 
and as they were all together at the time they felt the 
stimulus of association, and being stung by the rebukes 
of an uncourteous stranger, "they began to urge him 
vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many 
things : laying wait for him, and seeking to catch 
something out of his mouth, that they might accuse 
him." There is a good deal underlying ail this. 
They might think that they had caught Christ at a 
disadvantage. Was he inflamed with wine? How 
could he who came to call men to himself encounter 
some of the leading classes of society with language 
so repulsive? They could not comprehend this new 
spirit of judgment which had come to hold its assize 
among men, and in their ignorance they sought to 
drive judgment into indiscrimination, and thus deprive 
it of the moral element. They found nothing on the 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. IO5 

side of his love, so the hungry wolves ran round to 
the side of his anger, and waited savagely for prey. 

Where, then, were the " righteous " ? The fact is, 
that a man was truly, not notionally or reputedly, 
righteous just in proportion as he felt himself to be a 
sinner. There is many a paradox in Christ's teach- 
ing, and this is one of the number. He set forth this 
doctrine most graphically by telling of two men who 
went up to the same temple, at the same hour, for the 
same purpose. One was a conceited self-idolater, 
appraising himself very highly, the other was a self- 
abased and earnest suppliant, who could find no better 
term for himself than "sinner," — no other term so 
deeply probed his consciousness or expressed the tone 
and spirit of his life. The sequel showed that in 
God's view the "righteous" man was the "sinner," 
and the "sinner" the "righteous" man. Such sin- 
ners were the only men who could really hear Christ ; 
the other were so impenetrably fortressed in their own 
conceit that no call could be loud enough to be audi- 
ble above the thunder of their self-applause. Their 
sin was self-involution and self-satisfaction. They 
were their own Alpha and Omega. There was no 
way of moving them but by calling other men away 
from them. They must be isolated until they felt 
their position, and raised the signal of distress. 
Christianity thus became indirectly a most powerful 
appeal to the very men whom it had apparently left 
in all the paltry splendor of an artificial righteousness. 
By calling other men from them and leaving them 
utterly alone, their very selfishness became intolerable, 
and through the mere stress of circumstances they 

5* 



106 ECCE DEUS. 

were driven to inquiry and consideration. Extremes 
are their own cure. 

On another occasion Christ took an effectual 
method of showing who the righteous were. A num- 
ber of hollow-hearted men, who mistook an interest 
in criminal statistics for philanthropy, as all hollow- 
hearted men are prone to do, brought an unhappy 
woman before him to be judged. They had witnessed 
many displays of the new spirit of judgment in vari- 
ous directions, but here was a case which would test 
the moral quality of that spirit. With infinite delicacy 
he said, " Let him that is without sin cast the first 
stone." This was not only a new spirit of judgment, 
but a new spirit of administration. The guardians 
of virtue were henceforth to be virtuous. Judgment 
was henceforth not to be learned from a statute-book, 
but from the inspired heart. Penalty was to be an 
outburst of moral indignation. Without repealing 
the Mosaic law, or interfering with criminal prosecu- 
tions, he threw the inquirers upon a principle which 
carried its own justification. The answer fell upon 
them like the fires of judgment, and man by man they 
slunk from the place, until the sinner and the Saviour 
were left alone. The difference between the woman 
and the prosecutors was that her sin was known and 
theirs was hidden, but the new spirit of judgment 
showed that concealment was henceforth an impossi- 
bility. The Saviour gave the " sinner " another 
chance of life ; he called her to himself by kindling 
a new hope in her despairing heart. A new hope is 
equivalent to a new birth. 

The " sinners" alone, we have said, could hear the 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. I07 

call of Christ. This is true in civilization as well as in 
religion. Whoever has a new idea to propose will find 
no disposition to listen to it on the part of those who 
are satisfied with the old ideas or taken up with their 
own notions. He must seek prepared men, and de- 
liver his call to them. They are conscious of a want ; 
they are dissatisfied with the past ; they look yearn- 
ingly and wonderingly towards the future. Christ 
came with the cry of repentance ; a cry which by its 
very nature divided society and developed strong feel- 
ing on both sides. The cry " Repent " was a call to 
change the very springs of life. It implied — indeed 
it expressed — a heavy charge against society. It 
simply meant — You are wrong — wrong in heart, 
wrong in life — and you must change if you would 
enter the kingdom which is at hand. Such a call of 
necessity set men thinking as they had never thought 
before. It put men on the defensive. It did not give 
them an opportunity of saying guilty or not guilty, 
but assumed the guilt and demanded penitence. In- 
stantly the " righteous " set themselves against it. 
They massed themselves as an army, and obstinately 
contested the revolutionary idea. Hardly any other 
cry could have produced such an effect upon them ; it 
was intended to work self-conviction, but failing in 
this it necessarily consolidated the moral conservatism 
of the unbelievers. It was to be expected that a great 
division would follow the cry, and that henceforth a 
marked line would show the space occupied by those 
" which trusted in themselves that they were righteous 
and despised others." The call of Christ was the 
instrument of election, pointing out those upon whom 



108 ECCE DEUS. 

it could produce the intended effect. All calls to 
other life, good or bad, have in them of necessity an 
effective principle, simply because they separate and 
classify men. Christ acted in this matter precisely as 
sensible men act under similar conditions ; they turn 
from those who do not want them, and work with 
those who appreciate their purpose. The nature of 
the call determines the nature of the society that will 
be summoned by it. Christ uttered a call which 
plainly said that men needed to change their course, 
and it was natural that such men alone should draw 
around him, that they might learn all that he meant 
with reference to their future. To any man conscious 
of want, or sin, or ignorance, the call to repentance is 
the very call most suited to him. Instead of throwing 
him into despair it gives him hope ; it shows that an 
opportunity is still left, and that one man at least is 
willing to point out how that opportunity may be 
turned to advantage. The call of Jesus Christ means 
that no man need sit shivering upon the ruin he has 
wrought, but that he may arise and rebuild and enter 
into rest. 

Imagine the effect of a contrary cry. Instead of 
" Repent," say " Be satisfied. ,, Sides would then 
have changed. The men who were consciously 
wrong, or who had dreamed of a brighter day, could 
not have accepted the words as expressing a right 
direction, but the righteous would have pronounced 
the speaker an " excellent Daniel." The call to 
repent brought to the speaker exactly what he 
wanted, — the most susceptible, self-distrustful, and 
unsophisticated men of the time. When any of the 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. IO9 

so-called " righteous " did hear his words, and were 
disposed to inquire the terms of fellowship with him, 
Christ was invariably severe in stating the conditions. 
He did not by any means give them a cordial wel- 
come. By any ordinary reformer they would have 
been considered invaluable acquisitions ; having edu- 
cation, money, influence, and all those advantages 
which usually give a new idea a bold and command- 
ing aspect. By Jesus Christ they were regarded in 
no such light. He knew that they were but so many 
flattering varieties of a man's self, and by so much as 
self was uppermost was a man unfit for the kingdom 
of heaven. Consequently he was so cautious as to be 
almost stern, so exacting as to be almost oppressive. 
So, at least, it must have appeared to the righteous, as 
they saw the "gate" narrowing as they approached 
it, and heard his voice in its most incisive tone say- 
ing, " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way." So 
strait was the gate that no man, could take any ap- 
pendices with him ; all decorative matter was to be 
left outside ; only the man, without background or 
surrounding, could be admitted. One conspicuous 
example will occur to all who have read the life. A 
very " righteous " young man came to him with an 
eager inquiry : the young man made out that he 
was nothing less than an embodiment of the Deca- 
logue, — he had gathered the very elements of his 
life at Sinai. Surely Christ could not resist this 
impersonation of the Ten Commandments. They 
were written on tables of stone, but here was a 
table of flesh. Christ was actually more exacting 
with this young man — required more of him than 



IIO ECCE DEUS. 

he required of the publican, the adulteress, and the 
thief. Why not? Tall men can reach higher than 
short men. Others brought nothing but sin, this 
man brought the Decalogue without (as he ima- 
gined) a wrinkle or a stain. What wonder, then, 
seeing that strait is the gate and narrow is the way, 
that Christ should answer, " Go and sell all that thou 
hast, and give it unto the poor, and follow me " ? 
The man had grown prosperous, with all his com- 
mandment-keeping, and now he required to be pulled 
sharply up on the side of his wealth to see whether 
the commandments or the money had the greater hold 
upon him. There was no other method of meeting 
the case. The fortress of self must be stormed. 
Every prop must be struck down, every link broken, 
or he must remain outside the strait gate. The 
young man knew not that the gates to all great king- 
doms are strait, and that the ways are narrow ; he 
had thought much of the kingdom, but nothing of the 
way. This instance certainly shows that Christ did 
not care to give merely numerical strength to his 
cause. With him, as with all true calculators, the 
question was not one of numbers but of hearts. One 
heart under the inspiration of love was of immeasu- 
rably greater value than any number governed by the 
shifting policy of the hour. The I am, not the / 
have, was Christ's standard of valuation. How, then, 
could any man who had "great possessions" recon- 
cile himself to settlement in Christ's society? The 
thing was impossible. The outside was greater than 
the inside, so a catastrophe was inevitable. Manifest- 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. Ill 

ly the young man could not move through riches to 
Christ, though many a man has moved through Christ 
to riches. There is nothing in Christ to prevent a 
man having " a hundredfold more in the present life," 
but much in the present life to hinder a man having 
Christ. To-day this fact is illustrated on an extended 
scale ; most of the rich men who are now in Christ's 
society came to him when they were poor. It is 
difficult, from so narrow an observation as one in- 
dividual is able to make, to pronounce definitely upon 
the subject, but the peril of censoriousness may be 
escaped by merely putting a question, — How many 
men having great possessions pass the strait gate set 
before the kingdom of heaven? Does the spiritual or 
the material exercise the keener influence upon such 
men? Is the expression " How hardly shall they that 
have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven ! " with 
or without application to the men of to-day ? There 
is nothing in the constitution of the Christian king- 
dom to prevent a man becoming rich, but there is 
much in wealth to keep a man from thinking serious- 
ly about the Christian kingdom. It alters a man's 
whole relation to wealth, taking away the idea of 
mastery, and substituting the idea of stewardship, dis- 
placing the notion of carnal security by the spirit of 
Christ-like bounty. This kingdom necessarily casts out 
all other masteries, declaring to all men as they seek 
admission, " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." In 
Christ's day, too, expensive organizations within the 
church were unknown. Christ viewed all human ne- 
cessity in the light of God's immediate Fatherly good- 



112 ECCE DEUS. 

ness, so that every want became as a holy place where 
the Father met the dependent child. Money, as a regu- 
lative power in Christ's society, was not known. Christ 
had no institutionalism to support. In his day men 
gave themselves, not a guinea, when an appeal was 
made. Love had not then found out that it could 
buy itself off for an annual subscription ; it was mad 
enough to toil and suffer in the very heat of the day. 
Only spiritual insolvents think of compounding with 
God for a guinea when they owe him their whole life. 
When Echepdlus bought himself off from the war by 
giving Agamemnon a mare, probably Agamemnon 
made a good bargain, for a mare might be more use- 
ful at Troy than a rich and heartless poltroon ; but 
proxies should not be allowed in the spiritual war. 
In the " brave days" of the first disciples, things did 
not shape themselves as they do now, 

"Then none was for a party, 
Then all were for the state, 
Then the great man helped the poor, 
And the poor man loved the great. 
Then lands were fairly portioned, 
Then spoils were fairly sold : 
The Christians were like brothers, 
In the brave days of old." 

In giving the young man this view of money, Christ 
sent him away " very sorrowful." This was not 
without peril to the new government. The young 
man, in trying to reconcile himself to himself, would 
have a narrow escape from underrating the zeal of 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. II3 

those who had fallen in with such apparently ex- 
travagant notions ; and as no man in a low moral 
condition finds it easy to forgive one who has shown 
him that he is not so good as he supposed himself 
to be, the young man might seek to exalt Moses at 
the expense of Christ. It was necessary that Christ 
should accept all such risks. He could not build 
with wood, hay, and stubble, as he was erecting a 
kingdom which was to be tried with fire. Thus a 
universal call came to have special bearings, accord- 
ing to special circumstances, and out of this fact 
rejected men began to weave the grossest doctrinal 
slanders respecting the partiality of Jesus Christ — 
slanders from which his name is still suffering. 

This was natural. Rejected men felt themselves 
called upon to set up a theory of rejection, and the 
last thing w T hich that theory would admit would be 
error on the part of the individual himself. Take the 
case of the young rich man : as he retired from Christ 
he could hardly escape the tortures of the most pene- 
trating and solemn reflection. " I have been practi- 
cally rejected," he might say ; " what can be the 
reason? From my youth my conduct has been irre- 
proachable ; I have kept the law, and to-day I can 
defy public criticism ; yet this man refuses me admis- 
sion into his society except upon extreme and indeed 
impracticable conditions : he must be mad or in- 
sincere ; the fault is with him, not with me." The 
man's mind was started on a course of speculation, 
and all the probabilities are that his speculation could 
take no very favorable turn in regard to Christ. He 



114 ECCE DEUS. 

would have his own way of representing the case to 
his friends and companions, so that, while Christ was 
calling men to himself in one direction, the young 
man would be at the head of a counter-movement in 
another. His representations would acquire strength 
from his well-known morality, and from the fact that 
he had personally sought admission into Christ's king- 
dom. Ill this way the Christian idea has been im- 
peded by misunderstanding and unworthy men. 

Christ had different methods of calling men — al- 
ways, however, making the gate straiter and straiter 
as he was approached by the " righteous. " To the 
young man just spoken of he made the gate very strait 
on the side of property ; to a certain lawyer he made 
it strait on the side of the two great commandments ; 
and when Nicodemus came to him, he made it almost 
impassably strait by saying, " Except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." He 
seems to have given three different answers to the 
same question, while in reality he was but varying the 
answer according to the circumstances of the inquirer. 
Take the case of Nicodemus : to have said to him, 
" Go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor," 
would not have met the mood of the Rabbi's soul. 
Probably he could have accepted this condition of 
entrance without reducing the amount of self which 
was in him ; his property might be small, or he might 
hold it with a careless hand, so that its surrender 
would not have made any drain upon his self-impor- 
tance. So also to have said to the rich young man, 
" Ye must be born again," would have bewildered a 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. 115 

youth who knew little or nothing of such deep expres- 
sions ; he must be moved from the side of his prop- 
erty. The master in Israel must be met in his own 
sphere, and talked to in his own language ; the world- 
ling must be met in the midst of his estates, and talked 
to in the language of the market-place. The conclu- 
sion will be the same in both cases. Nicodemus, when 
born again, will be willing to sell all that he has, and 
the young man, when he has sold all his property, 
will be born again. This circumstance shows the 
necessity of discrimination in preaching the Gospel. 
Christ addressed men in different ways ; the Church 
has a few stereotyped directions for all. How many 
of the Evangelical preachers in England dare tell a 
rich young man that he must sell and distribute all his 
property as the condition of his entrance into eternal 
life? The man who did so would be marked as a 
legalist, though he would be a most Christ-like preach- 
er. There are some who aspire to be more orthodox 
than Christ himself; w r ho, by insisting upon one set 
of technicalities, throw many inquirers into despair, 
and clothe many a plain truth with mystery. 

Take the doctrine of being " born again : " Christ did 
not use such words to the common multitude, but 
specially to " a master in Israel." He never used them 
again, so far as we can learn from the narrative ; yet, 
because he used them in such an exceptional case, 
thousands of preachers perplex promiscuous congre- 
gations with them every Sunday. To a master in 
Israel they were precisely adapted, yet it does not 
follow T that a direction given to a learned man in a 
piivate interview is to be proclaimed to the common 



Il6 ECCE DEUS. 

multitude. Nicodemus was accustomed to metaphysi- 
cal inquiry ; his faculties were trained to analysis ; and 
though he might start at this profoundly spiritual 
answer, given by a man whom he had distinctively 
known as a mighty worker, yet he could meditate 
upon it as in harmony with the genius and bent of his 
whole intellectual life. That life it immediately as- 
sailed — not the man's character, but the man's mental 
habitudes and moral purposes. His inner life must 
start from a new point ; so radical a change must he 
undergo, that no figure can so expressively denote it 
as a new birth. 

This reference to regeneration opens the question of 
original sin. Many inquirers find it difficult to believe 
themselves innately bad, simply because they have been 
told that such a belief is required of them. No man 
taught the doctrine of original sin, commonly so called, 
so impressively as Jesus Christ, and yet he never men- 
tioned it ! His whole scheme was founded upon the 
assumption that men were wrong. Every call to a 
new point, every frown upon sin, every encourage- 
ment of well-doing, meant that society needed regen- 
eration. Men may come upon the doctrine of original 
depravity in one of two different ways ; for example, 
they may come upon it as a dogma in theology. The 
first thing that some theologians do is to assail human 
nature, to describe it as being covered with wounds 
and bruises and putrefying sores, and as deserving 
nothing but eternal burning. Human nature resists 
this as a slander : it says, " No ; I have good impulses, 
upward desires, generous emotions towards my fellow- 
creatures ; I resent your theological calumnies." So 



CHRIST REJECTING MEN. Il7 

much for the first method of approaching the doctrine. 
The second is totally unlike it. A man, for example, 
heartily accepts Jesus Christ, studies him with most 
passionate devotion, and grows daily more like him in 
all purity, gentleness, and self-oblivion. From this al- 
titude he looks back upon his former self; he compares 
the human nature with which he started, with the 
human nature he has attained, and involuntarily, by 
the sheer necessity of the contrast, he says, " I was 
born in sin and shapen in iniquity." This conclusion 
he comes to, not by dogmatic teaching, but by dog- 
matic experience ; what he never could have under- 
stood as an opinion he realizes as a fact. 

Suppose a tree to be conscious, and let it illustrate 
what is meant by growing into a right understanding 
of this hard doctrine. Tell the tree in April that it is 
bare and ungainly in appearance ; very barren and 
naked altogether. The tree says, " Nay : I am rooted 
in the earth ; my branches are strong ; I live in the 
light ; I drink the dew ; and I am beautiful ; the winds 
rock me, and many a bird twitters on my boughs." 
This is its April creed. Go to the same tree after it 
has had a summer's experience ; it has felt the quick- 
ening penetration of the solar fire, quenched its thirst 
in summer showers, felt the sap circulating through 
its veins ; the leaves have come out on branch and 
twig, the blossoms have blushed and bloomed through 
long days of light ; fruit has been formed, and mel- 
lowed into maturity. Now hear the tree ! " I am not 
what I was in April ; my very identity seems to be 
changed ; when men called me bare and rugged I did 
not believe them a few months ago ; now I see what 



Il8 ECCE DEUS. 

they meant — their verdict was sound: I thought the 
April light very beautiful, but it is nothing to the blaz- 
ing splendor of the later months ; I liked the twitter of 
the spring birds, but it is poor compared with the song 
of those that came in June : I feel as if I had been born 
again." The parable is broad enough to cover this 
bewildering, and at times horrifying, doctrine of hered- 
itary depravity. Men cannot be in April what they 
will be in September. Each year says to growing 
hearts, " I have many things to say unto you, but ye 
cannot bear them now." In old age men may accept 
the rejected doctrines of their youth. Experience 
brings us round many a rugged hill, and gives us 
better views of condemned, because misunderstood, 
opinions. The point to be observed by all teachers 
of Jesus Christ's doctrine is, that it is unnecessary 
to force recondite theological dogmas upon those 
who approach the kingdom of heaven. Let them 
enter the kingdom on the sole ground of their love to 
the King, and their subsequent life may be devoted to 
doctrinal study. Jesus Christ was constantly correct- 
ing the errors of his immediate followers, yet they were 
his followers, notwithstanding their errors. Where 
love is ardent, knowledge will be attained by expe- 
rience. 

We have thus seen Christ calling men and Christ 
rejecting men. This discrimination gives a hint of 
the quality of the society which he aims to establish. 
Can he keep those whom he has called? 



IK 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE CHURCH. 

FOR what purpose did Christ call men? Were 
they to be his body-guard during his presence 
upon earth, and to be disbanded after his ascension? 
or were they to be confederated into a perpetual me- 
morial of his earthly mission? This brings us to an 
analysis of the ecclesiastical idea. 

The men who obeyed the call were classified under 
a special and most sacred designation. They were 
first known as " My disciples ; " long afterwards " be- 
lievers," " saints," " Christians " became synonymous 
and interchangeable terms, the whole of them being 
frequently expressed by one word, — church. This 
was a confederation of hearts, founded on a purely 
moral basis, subsisting continually upon a deep love 
for the Christ who had called them to his fellowship. 
The root idea of the church is that of a particular re- 
lation of man to man, originated by a common relation 
to Jesus Christ. When men are ardently attached to 
their native country, they are related to one another as 
compatriots, though they may differ upon every ques- 
tion in political science. It is the same in the church ; 
attachment to Jesus Christ is everything ; the widest 
differences upon theology may exist, but no doctrinal 
heresy can break up the vital and eternal union of 



120 ECCE DEUS. 

souls which is brought about by an all-absorbing love 
for Jesus Christ. 

It may appear that faith is an almost insignificant 
condition of membership in Christ's kingdom. Not 
so, however, when the matter is carefully considered. 
The word " belief" is not simple, but compound, — a 
term most inclusive and exacting. Popularly under- 
stood, " belief" is supposed to denote an act of the 
mind in relation to statements which may be laid be- 
fore it : as, for example, a man believes that Milton 
wrote " Paradise Lost," that Columbus discovered 
America, or that a ship will leave Britain for Africa 
upon a given day. But such a belief may amount to 
nothing more than that the man does not disbelieve 
these statements ; or if it mean that he has examined 
the evidence for himself, yet not one of the statements 
may touch his deepest nature. It would give him no 
concern to know that Milton wrote the " Iliad," and 
that Homer wrote " Paradise Lost," or that the ship 
in question is not going to Africa, but to Asia. The 
man cannot be said to " believe," in any deep and true 
sense of that term. Belief means more than any act 
of the mere understanding can ever mean. Religion 
is not so much an appeal to the intellectual as to the 
moral nature ; this is true of all religions, but pre- 
eminently characteristic of Christianity. The intel- 
lectual is to be affected through the moral ; the mind 
is not to lie dormant, it is to be brought into the most 
active service ; but the law is, " Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy . . . mind" Loving with 
the mind is the idea ; the very intellect is to be turned 
into an organ of affection, logic itself to be a-glow with 



THE CHURCH. 121 

moral fire ; it is not, Thou shalt believe with thy mind, 
but, Thou shalt love with thy mind : " with the heart 
man believeth unto righteousness." Belief thus be- 
comes more than an assent to a set of notions. It car- 
ries with it the whole man, dominating over his entire 
course; in fact, it is more even than this — it is life 
itself. Whatever a man lives for is his faith. With- 
out faith it is impossible to please God. What then? 
Is this extraordinary ? It is one of the veriest com- 
monplaces in life ! Without faith it is as impossible to 
please man as to please God. Give any man to un- 
derstand that he has lost the faith of his compeers, and 
he will realize the most complete humiliation and im- 
poverishment. In this vital sense the belief of man is 
challenged by Jesus Christ : out of it is to come the 
whole purpose and strength of life. Christ is to absorb 
affection, and his will is to be, not the arbitrary, but 
the heart-elected Master everywhere. A man may 
believe that a house has been robbed, but his belief is 
altogether a deeper reality when he is given to under- 
stand that the house which has been robbed is his own. 
That which was merely a piece of information lodged 
in the mind becomes a compelling and ruling power 
in the life. So a man may say of Jesus Christ, u I 
believe he lived, died, and rose again," and may yet 
know nothing of the ruling force of these events in 
his heart. The facts have not become truths to him ; 
they are outside realities, not internal and undisputed 
sovereignties. When he lives by them, he believes 
them ; when he believes them, he lives by them ; when 
belief and life are synonymous terms, the man is a 
member of the church of Christ — his name is written 
6 



122 ECCE DEUS. 

in heaven. He may hold the most extraordinary con- 
clusions in speculative theology, but he cannot be 
unchurched by metaphysics. Where the love is right, 
the formal expression of notions is of small conse- 
quence. A man may keep his whole self and accept 
all technicalities in theology, but a man cannot love 
without giving up himself. He must either " sell all 
he has and give it to the poor," or he must be " born 
again " into a new spirit in which there shall be no 
self, and then he is in the kingdom of Christ. 

This shows the inclusiveness of the church. The sect 
can hold but a few, the church may comprehend all. 
Christ established no sect ; he founded a church. To 
be a Christian, it is not necessary to be a scholastic 
theologian ; nor is it necessary to choose a sectarian 
appellation ; nothing is necessary but perfect love of 
the u Beloved Son." It is with Christianity as with 
patriotism, to recur to an illustration : love of country 
is independent of love of party ; a patriot might die 
for his sovereign without knowing the subtle degrees 
of loyalty which are indicated by party nomenclature. 
Entrance into the church is a transaction between Jesus 
Christ and the individual heart ; whoever has given his 
love to God's Son is a member of the church : whether, 
for the sake of convenience, or for purposes of evan- 
gelization, he may join a sect, it is for him to consider, 
but most assuredly he is in Christ's church, by the in- 
defeasible and all-comprehending right of love. The 
immortality of love is the immortality of the church. 
The small mud huts of bigotry will be submerged by 
the mighty cataclysm of human progress, but the 
church founded upon a rock will remain above the 
floods. Love is the security of the church. 



THE CHURCH. 1 23 

Horror at what is called heresy may be accounted 
for on natural grounds. It is natural to venerate the 
ancient ; it is natural, too, for the timid to dread what 
is speculative or experimental. Men hesitate before 
cutting down a bridge which bears the footprints of 
many generations, though a better bridge may be 
erected. Man cannot easily shake off the associations 
of time, nor is it desirable that he should. The known 
has certain advantages over the unknown. In business, 
in politics, in medicine, in government, and most of 
the concerns of common life, the same regard for the 
past prevails. Changes, it is thought, always involve 
more or less of risk ; and though results may be right, 
processes may be hazardous and difficult. But by the 
noble boldness of many recent inquirers, even change 
itself is enriched with hallowed and inspiring associa- 
tions. The heretics in civilization, not to speak of 
theology, have done most for the world. Timid men 
cringed, and selfish men denounced, when the heretics 
struck openly at the old methods of doing things. They 
dreaded changes as men might dread floods which 
carry destruction everywhere : — 

" Expatiata ruunt per apertos fiumina campos ; 
Cumque satis arbusta simul, pecudesque, virosque, 
Tectaque, cumque suis rapiunt penetralia sacris." 

Such swollen rivers as Ovid describes have been 
greatly dreaded in the church, as if no promise lay 
around that church as a perpetual defence. Poor but- 
tresses can be made of paper ; but who can storm the 
fortresses of love ? It is forgotten, besides, how great a 
guarantee of security has been provided by Christ in 



124 ECCE DEUS. 

the condition requiring discipleship to be attested by 
the most practical service. Jesus Christ and his disci- 
ples were not a band of contemplative philosophers 
perambulating in the cold grandeur of isolation from 
all the rough world, in some charmed Lyceum ; they 
threaded their enlightening and healing way through 
the thronging multitudes ; and daily were the disciples 
shown that love and work were the hemispheres of the 
Christian life. Love was not a mere sentiment, a self- 
considering and self-satisfying passion, but the spring 
of an inclusive and intensely practical philanthropy. 
Christ drilled his disciples in a reverent and generous 
regard for the human body. He told them to divide 
their small stock of provisions in the desert place with 
the five thousand strangers, and when he sketched the 
proceedings of the great judicial day he sent men to 
heaven or to hell according as they had been philan- 
thropic or misanthropic towards himself as atomized 
by the least of his brethren. He asked no man what 
he believed, but told every man how much he had 
done to mitigate the sufferings of good men, or what 
opportunities of such mitigation had been neglected. 
Philanthropy was made the test of love towards God, 
for who can love God without loving his brother also? 
This is a valuable, and not less so because incidental, 
illustration of the inseparableness of the two great 
commandments of the law, — Love God and love thy 
neighbor. The love of man comes from love of God, 
and in the judgment love of God will be tried by love 
of man. The apostle John, who is generally supposed 
to have been incomparably amiable, said plainly, that 
if any man says he loves God, and yet hates his brother, 



THE CHURCH. 1 25 

he is a liar; and no liar shall enter the church : he 
may creep into the sect, but shall have his portion in 
the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone. The 
true church-member can never become a heretic in 
any bad sense of the term : his love towards God and 
his love towards man keep him perfectly balanced ; 
he has no time to go astray, as well as no will. The 
priest and the Levite will probably be excommunicated, 
but the philanthropist is too busy with wounded and 
dying humanity to be in any danger from theological rid- 
dles and metaphysical enigmas. From his continually 
widening observation of human nature, he may be 
induced to ignore some of the faded nostrums of tra- 
ditional quackery, but his heart will be sound and his 
faith strong. Seeing far into man, he will see far into 
God, and by loving his brother he will love his Maker 
more. Christ seldom made inquiry into the opinions 
of his disciples, but he never failed to keep them up 
to a large-hearted practice. When he did inquire into 
their opinions, it was always to know how they stood 
in relation to himself; and just in proportion as the 
disciples saw God in him, did he corroborate their 
judgment by pronouncing it a divine revelation. The 
education of the philanthropic element in his church- 
members was Christ's main concern. We do not know 
that he ever so much as named Adam and Eve, or that 
he drew any subtle distinctions, or laid down any pre- 
cise definitions in reference to supralapsarianism or 
prevenient grace ; but we do know that he drew up 
such a list of guests as probably never assembled at 
any board before his time ; that he commended the 
poor, the halt, the maimed, the blind, to the special 



126 ECCE DEUS. 

care of his members ; that, with the most practical 
sarcasm, he measured the rich man by his clothes and 
his dinner (" clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared 
sumptuously every day "), and sent the angels«to carry 
the beggar to Abraham's bosom. Christ's philanthropy 
never failed, it never yellowed, or drooped as if winter 
were approaching. He was the divine teacher of phi- 
lanthropy ; by which is meant not official intermeddling 
about poor-rates, prison-ventilation, and workhouse 
discipline, but simple, hearty, brotherly love of man as 
man, in all zones and all ages. As such a teacher, 
Christ taught the doctrine of the Fall more fully than 
if lie had discussed it in daily discourses upon the 
garden of Eden. He never said, Lift a man up, with- 
out recognizing the Fall ; he never expatiated upon 
" the lost " without going back to early events ; he said 
nothing about the Adamic apostasy, but spent every 
moment of his life in seeking to reclaim apostates. 
This was the wisdom which cometh down from above. 
Two settled and unchangeable principles thus come 
up as including the idea of the church — love to Christ 
and love to man. Whoever has experienced this love 
is in Christ's kingdom a living member ; he hath eter- 
nal life. This dual love is another illustration of the 
dual life of Christ. As that life was divine and human, 
the life of his members is divine and human also ; it is 
not only purity of heart which sees God, but it is 
mercy which pities men — not only poverty of spirit 
which claims the kingdom of heaven, but meekness 
which inherits the earth — not only the mourning 
which is followed by rest in the soul, but peacemaking 
"Vhich reconciles opposing hearts ; it is dual as Christ 



THE CHURCH. 127 

was dual — weak enough to be bruised on the cross, 
strong enough to throw off the bondage of the grave. 
That men who know the power of this love should 
seek each other's fellowship is not merely natural, but 
necessary. A common faith and a common philan- 
thropy bring them into visible union ; mark them off 
from all other men, giving them a lustre which makes 
them the light of the world, a pungency which makes 
them as the salt of the earth, an elevation best repre- 
sented by " a city set on a Hill." Their visible union 
causes them to be known as " the church," in an infe- 
rior sense to that already named, and those whom they 
have left are known as " the world." Speaking of his 
disciples in one of his prayers, Christ specially marks 
this distinction : " They are not of the world, even as 
I am not of the world ; " — in it, yet above it — in the 
form of servants, } T et in the spirit of mastery. In early 
days the disciples were known to one another by 
endearing terms which our materialistic civilization 
can hardly use without a significant hesitation ; they 
were " saints," " brethren," " servants of Jesus Christ," 
" beloved in the Lord ; " they were called a " royal 
priesthood," a " peculiar people," " temples of the 
Holy Ghost." What wonder, then, if visible union 
should be a necessity ? On lower conditions men enter 
into organization ; artists unite ; merchants " do con- 
gregate ; " philosophers shut out the common people ; 
bankers have their guilds ; lawyers their inns ; and 
savans their esoteric circles. Why should men with 
a common faith and a common philanthropy remain 
apart? When we have been in a foreign country, 
unable to speak the language, ignorant of all the 



128 ECCE DEUS. 

customs, and have incidentally heard a fellow-traveller 
speak in our own tongue, has not the surprised and 
thankful heart almost compelled us to claim acquaint- 
ance on the common ground of nationality, or identity 
of speech? Some such feeling as this must have been 
largely experienced by the first adherents of Christ ; 
an accent might discover them, an allusion might bring 
them into mutual embrace. If such unusual conditions 
do not now elicit such warm demonstration, is it to 
our credit if the deep emotion of genuine brotherly 
affection has subsided? 

The church thus resting upon a basis so easily com- 
prehensible, it may be interesting to inquire why all 
who are avowedly ruled by the same faith and philan- 
thropy do not meet as one church, without distinction 
or difference of any kind whatever? As the conditions 
and credentials of membership are so simple, why 
should there be anything sectarian amongst Christian 
men? This inquiry throws us back, not upon Christ, 
but upon human nature: in human nature there are 
endless varieties of temperament, capacity, culture, 
susceptibility, and relationship. Besides this, two 
things are to be taken into consideration first, that 
upon the two fundamental principles the church can 
never be divided, for by the denial of either it loses 
status, it ceases to be a church ; and second, that since 
Christ's day we have had the Epistles, which discuss 
some theological points and enter into various details, 
on the interpretation of which readers may fairly differ. 
Men are not saved by interpretations of apostolic 
epistles. They have the common organs of criticism 
at hand, and are responsible for their right use. A 



THE CHURCH. 1 29 

number of men may gather around each verse in each 
epistle, and found as many sects as there are verses, 
and yet the church may be an unbroken whole. The 
grandeur of Christ's work is seen in that it descends 
below all possibility of difference or breach. The 
differences occasioning denominationalism are but as 
the variously formed members of the body, while the 
church is as united and vital as the heart. 

No doubt the Epistles have considerably divided 
men upon various points ; still the church is so much 
richer by the possession of these letters, so full of 
mixed experience and so fervent with the passion of 
an absorbing love. It is certainly better to have them 
than to be without them, though they do furnish a 
wide ground of controversy. It is impossible but that 
Peter and Paul, James and John, should write many 
things as coming immediately from the lips of the 
Lord, and that, according to their various constitu- 
tions of mind, they should present doctrines in more 
or less of a characteristic manner. If the writers had 
different methods, how can the readers fail to receive 
different impressions? The only teacher who can 
expect to preside over a united school is Euclid, but 
even Euclid would soon find that, if there were two 
methods of drawing a straight line, his school would 
be broken up into parties. A question may be said to 
be truly great in proportion as it admits of multitudi- 
nous variations of opinion and expression, yet binds 
men by a mastery at once irresistible and beneficent. 
They differ about it, yet they love it ; they fight with 
one another about it, and yet unite against any man 
who would injure it. Little questions cannot per- 
6* 



I3O ECCE DEUS. 

manently divide mankind ; great questions will al- 
ways divide men, yet always unite them at some 
point. Men would hardly fight about the best method 
of going up a ladder, but a hundred battles have been 
fought on the best method of training a child. So all 
through life : the deeper the question, the deeper the 
opposition ; men who would only laugh at a magician 
might crucify a Christ. 

On the whole it may be doubted whether differ- 
ences, properly argued, are not of advantage to reli- 
gious progress. Now and again somewhat violent 
attempts are made to bring about visible unity in the 
Christian denominations, but they do more harm than 
good by calling attention to differences which are not 
vital, and giving what ought to be held quite seconda- 
ry a factitious importance. All strained efforts after 
denominational unity are by their very nature bad. 
Unity must come, not through schemes, but through 
vitality, and it would be w T ell if the most zealous 
charity would cease from its favorite pastime of setting 
traps for the capture of denomination alists. What 
is denominationalism but an inconvenient conven- 
ience ? Rise or fall, it does not affect the church as 
we have ventured now to define it. It meets the tem- 
porary peculiarities of human nature ; and if it be 
reproduced in a higher form as principalities, thrones, 
and dominions in the world to come, that will not 
alter its relation to the sublime embodiment of tri- 
umphant Sorrow sitting in the midst of the throne. 
As men reside in different houses and are yet inhabit- 
ants of the same city, so Christians may worship 
under different denominational politics and forms, and 



THE CHURCH. 131 

yet love the same Saviour. It would be as reasonable 
to reduce all soldiers to the same stature in order to 
present a commanding front of patriotism, as to bring 
all denominations under one polity to exemplify 
Christian unity. The world is educated by opposi- 
tion, and it is more than doubtful whether such a 
world as it is could be educated in any other way. 
Men may be " provoked " even " to love and good 
works." 

Union will be best attested by charity — not charity 
in any low sense, but charity as a phase of justice ; 
not the charity that condescends, but the charity 
which concedes on equal terms. Wherever infallibil- 
ity is claimed, the possibility of union is a blank; 
where liberty is conceded, union is already a fact. 
Christ is in all denominations where he is loved. 
The Romanist feels that he needs the crucifix, the 
penance, the Virgin Mother, the intermediate fire : let 
him have them ; he will be saved, not by the alloy, 
but by the fine gold. The Protestant offers a less 
ornate worship : let him do so ; he will be heard, not 
for his sternness, but for his sincerity. The Trini- 
tarian firmly holds the doctrine of the triune Godhead, 
and the reverent Unitarian (not the scoffing Socinian) 
feels that if he has finished with Ecce Homo instead 
of with Ecce Deus, he will ultimately be led by 
gentle chiding to exclaim, " My Lord and my God ! " 
Men are saved by the crucified Christ, not by the 
superscription which Pilate wrote. 

We have endeavored broadly to mark the difference 
between the church and a sect. By an undue (may 
we not say criminal?) protrusion of the sectarian 



I32 ECCE DEUS. 

phase of religious life, a most erroneous idea respect- 
ing the church has been encouraged. If a man has 
not accepted a sect, it is often contended that he has 
not entered the church. It has been said, the act of 
entering the church has been regarded as a transaction 
between man and man, whereas is it not entirely a 
transaction between the spirit and Jesus Christ? 
Take an illustration : in some places the approach 
to the table of communion, or the Lord's Supper, is 
considered as the sign of church-membership ; but 
before that table can be approached, the intending 
communicant must undergo some kind of official 
examination as to his theological views. Where is 
Christ's authority for this? Does not such an inquiry 
proceed upon the principle that the Lord's Supper is 
an administration rather than a communion — some- 
thing to be dispensed by a superior hand rather than 
taken with a trembling joy by the man himself? In 
such a service who could be elevated to the dignity 
of an administrator? For mere convenience the 
emblems may be dispensed by the teacher or his 
assistants ; but this is an arrangement required by 
order, not a superiority conferred by God. Around 
the cross all men are equal ; around tht table, which 
represents the cross, all men must be equal too. But 
this equality cannot co-exist with the idea of dispensa- 
tion. Men cannot meet in any official capacity what- 
soever at the Lord's table ; there they may assemble 
only as persons for whom the body was broken and 
the blood shed. The clergyman is not a clergyman, 
the officer is not an officer, when seated at the board 
of communion ; the communicants are there as sinners 



THE CHURCH. 133 

who ha> 1 accepted salvation through Jesus Christ. 
But is not examination needed ? Yes, but it must be 
self-examination. Paul's words are explicit : " Let a 
man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread 
and drink of that cup." It is feared that an open 
table might be taken advantage of by designing 
persons. The answer to this is evident : no plan 
will keep out designing persons ; they can accom- 
modate themselves to any process ; if unworthy per- 
sons do approach the table, they eat and drink to their 
own condemnation, not to the condemnation of other 
people. This is in striking accord with all that we 
have seen in the life of Christ, who continually threw 
men back upon their own consciousness, and com- 
pelled them to judge their own actions ; it is, too, in 
perfect harmony with the liberty which he came to 
inaugurate and establish among men, purifying each 
man's judicial faculty and giving him the highest 
advantages with a view to self-rectification. 

If men choose to build places of worship and to lay 
down special regulations and conditions of attendance 
or membership, they may be at liberty to do so ; but 
no man can ever be at liberty to alter the terms upon 
which salvation is offered to the world. He who 
attempts to do so is guilty of the worst form of blas- 
phemy. The sect which has perverted a communion 
into a dispensation has interfered with the incom- 
municable prerogative of Christ. No man can dis- 
pense the light, or the wind, or the rain, or any of the 
primary forces or gifts of God ; no more can any man 
dispense, except in the way of mere order, the body 
and blood of God's Son. In the widest sense, Christ 



134 ECCE DEUS. 

gives himself; of such a gift there cannot be a sec- 
ondary giver — hence communion alone can save the 
dignity and value of the gift. 

The place of the Lord's Supper in the church is a 
subject on which diversity of opinion prevails. At 
first sight the idea of eating and drinking together 
suggests the socialism of fellowship in Christ, and 
pleasing sentiments of equality before God, both of 
which are perfectly true, and yet other and more may 
be meant by this communion. It is pleasant to think 
that in such common things as bread and wine Christ 
found emblems of himself; pleasant also to think of a 
whole community coming together from time to time 
to ratify their bonds. But is not all this beside the 
mark? With regard to the idea of hospitality, Paul 
sharply reproved the Corinthians for their practice at 
the table. "What," said he, "have ye not houses to 
eat and to drink in? .... If any man hunger; let 
him eat at home." The social idea, it would appear, 
however pleasant in itself, was not the idea con- 
templated in the establishment of the Communion. 
Men could not be social around the broken body of 
any man, specially of any man whom they had 
accepted as their Lord. However sacredly some 
persons may regard a club dinner,* it ought to be 
borne in mind that bread and wine are not mere 
viands for refreshment, but the emblems of Christ's 
body and blood. Only cannibals could dine, in any 
sense of a club dinner, off a crucified man. There 
must, then, we think, be something more, something 
deeper, too, than the idea of friendliness or fellowship. 

* See Ecce Homo, p. 187. 



THE CHURCH. 135 

Christ's own explanation ought to be final : " Take, 
eat/' said he, " this is my body, broken for you ; " 
" This cup is the new testament in my blood." The 
author just referred to says, " A common meal is the 
most natural and universal way of expressing, main- 
taining, and, as it were, ratifying relations of friend- 
ship." * This is true in itself, but the very idea of a 
" meal " is foreign to the spirit of this communion. 
As established by Christ, the Supper did not refer to 
" relations of friendship," but exclusively to himself. 
Is it not so ? The terms of the service, as cited by the 
New Testament writers, certainly imply it: "This do 
in remembrance of me; " and again, " This do ye, as 
oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." What is 
there about "friendship" here? That "friendship" 
would be purified and elevated by such an act is un- 
doubted, but what was the primary idea of the Sup- 
per? That idea is described as combining recollec- 
tion and anticipation. Not only is it written, " This 
do in remembrance of me," but also, " As often as ye 
eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the 
Lord's death till he come." And why retain the 
memory of that event? Because it was "for you:" 
" This is my body, which is given for you," — " This 
cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed 
for you." The personal interest of the communicant 
in the sacrifice of Christ is the reason for preserving 
the memory of " the Lord's death." The author of 
Ecce Homo says, "It is precisely this intense per- 
sonal devotion, this habitual feeding on the character 
of Christ, so that the essential nature of the master 

* See Ecce Homo, p. 187. 



136 ECCE DEUS. 

seems to pass into and become the essential nature of 
the servant — loyalty carried to the point of self 
annihilation — that is expressed by the words ' eating 
the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ '" (p. 176). 
We think there is some confusion of idea here. Men 
could have " fed on the character of Christ" without 
having a sacrament, so to speak, imposed on them ; 
but they could not " show forth " the Lord's death 
without a sacrament, the very idea of " showing forth " 
requiring visibility and symbolism. " Feeding on the 
character of Christ " is purely a mental act, but a club 
dinner is more. And, again, if eating the flesh and 
drinking the blood of Christ expresses " intense per- 
sonal devotion," where is the idea of " ratifying the 
relations of friendship " ? It can only come in sec- 
ondarily, not primarily, as it did in the first part of th,? 
argument. 

The Lord's Supper is a memorial. It does not 
necessarily imply the joint act of a rmmber of persons. 
A single man may show forth his " Lord's death." 
The club idea is not in the nature of the service at all. 
Men stand in a personal, not in an arrociated relation 
to that death, and the communion n\v«t be personal, 
not one with another, but each with th*» ? jnrd. The 
club idea is more pertinent to the church coming to- 
gether to feed on the divine Word as it may be read 
and expounded publicly. In the Old and New Testa- 
ment men are often represented as eating and drinking 
the word of God, and as speaking to one another about 
the bounty and goodness of the feast. Job said, " I 
have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my 
necessary food." The Psalmist said, " How sweet are 



THE CHURCH. 137 

thy words unto my taste ! Yea, sweeter than honey 
to my mouth ; " and Jesus himself said, " My meat is 
to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his 
work." Men are invited to " eat and drink abundant- 
ly," and to let their " soul delight itself in fatness," 
and God is proclaimed as making " unto all people a 
feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat 
things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well re- 
fined." There is much in this imagery to favor the 
idea of a club dinner, and to give a meaning to the 
expression, " feeding on the character of Christ." If 
it be suggested that each man should partake of the 
Lord's Supper privately, the suggestion would involve 
the cessation of all public service ; men can pray alone, 
sing alone, read alone ; but Christ called men to him- 
self, constituted those who came into a church, and 
that church is to-day his representative and the treas- 
urer of his testimony. 

With regard to the expression " eat my flesh and 
drink my blood," it should be noted that it was not 
used in connection with the Supper. It forms part of 
an appeal to the general multitude which pursued 
Christ after the distribution of the loaves and fishes. 
He knew that the people sought him because they 
" did eat of the loaves and were filled," and thereupon 
he discoursed concerning himself as " the living bread 
which came down from heaven." His method of put- 
ting the case was likely to create strife among the liter- 
alists who heard him ; and as the Jews " stiove among 
themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh 
to eat?" Jesus answered, " Except ye eat the flesh of 
the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life 



138 ECCE DEUS. 

in you : whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
dwelleth in me, and I in him." The circumstances 
clearly show that the expression did not relate to the 
Supper, but was part of what w T e should now regard 
as a sermon or a religious address. In this sense there 
is no incongruity in rendering it as equivalent to " feed- 
ing on the character of Christ." The hearers had eaten 
of the natural bread, and as usual Christ conducted 
them to a spiritual interpretation of natural circum- 
stances, and so put himself before them as the living 
bread — a strong figurative representation of his per- 
son and work. It is as though he had said, — You 
have eaten of the bread that perisheth ; as that bread 
nourishes the body, there is another bread wdiich nour- 
ishes the mind ; as the body could not exist without 
the former, so the mind must die without the latter ; I 
myself am the living bread, the mind must feed upon 
me as specially provided for its quickening. In so 
addressing the people, Christ elevated a fact into a 
figure ; he took the circumstance of the hour and 
hung upon it lessons of eternity ; he did not import 
the figure as an original conception, but found it in 
the passing event. To press the allegory further would 
be unjust, and would bring other allegories under an 
interpretation which would be absurd. Also to asso- 
ciate the expression with the Supper is to put it out of 
place, and to force upon the Supper violent and un- 
tenable meanings. That points of analogy may be 
discovered is clear enough, but what two things are 
there in the world which do not bear some resemblance 
and relation to one another? 

The argument which we have sought to establish is, 



THE CHURCH. 139 

that Christ founded his church upon a common faith 
and a common philanthropy ; that the church is one 
and indivisible ; that the sect is not to be confounded 
with the church ; that the church is immortal, though 
the sect is temporary ; that entrance into the church 
is purely a transaction between Christ and the in- 
dividual ; that within the church there is a sacra- 
ment called the Lord's Supper, a sacrament which is 
not a dispensation, but a communion ; a sacrament 
which may be approached without official examina- 
tion, but not without severe self-inquest ; that the Sup- 
per is a memorial and a hope, — not a club dinner, 
even in its most refined and legitimate sense, but a 
special communion between the communicant and 
his Lord. 



140 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 

NOW that men have been called and united, it may 
be time to inquire into the laws by which they 
are to be personally and relatively governed. Life is 
continually presenting new aspects ; and a widening 
civilization is perpetually throwing up questions which 
challenge the consideration of men who profess to go 
beyond "the world" for their doctrine and policy. 
Side by side with the Christian organization called 
the church, many a powerful rivalry has been growing 
up, so that a persistent competition has been brought 
to bear upon the interests, real or supposed, of the 
whole community. We have seen that Christ re- 
garded his disciples as " not of the world," yet to-day 
" the world " is setting up a claim for the suffrages of 
the disciples. The line of separation is supposed by 
some observers to have faded much. Is it so in reality ? 
It may be worth while to inquire how Jesus Christ, 
simply regarded as a bold and far-sighted propagand- 
ist, proposed to keep vast masses of men in permanent 
union — in other words, to consider how men can be 
in the world, yet not of it ; can live in it, and yet 
be above it ; can be united with one another, yet sepa- 
rate from sinners. No imperium in imfierio is so 
great a mystery as the church in the world. Christ 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 141 

surely proposed a hard thing to his disciples when he 
required them to remain in the world and yet to con- 
tinue not only to be superior to its contaminations, but 
to make daily encroachments upon its dominion until 
its authority was completely urjset. In one of his 
prayers Christ said, " I pray not that thou shouldest 
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest 
keep them from evil." Here is the difficulty. 

In attempting the negative work of keeping men 
from evil, it is customary to set down in systematic 
order minute regulations and directions respecting 
things which are to be avoided. Christ did not adopt 
this plan. Rather by allusion than by detailed state- 
ment, he indicated certain forbidden territory, and 
then betook himself to the affirmative side of his plan. 
He did not hope to keep men from evil by lecturing 
about it, by elaborating a penal system, or by any appeal 
to the lower instincts of human nature. His simple 
plan was to counteract death by life. Thus, instead 
of telling a man not to despond, he inspired him with 
a new hope ; instead of telling a man to do no murder, 
he gave him such notions of the sanctity of human 
life as took away the very tendency to anger. This 
was his fundamental plan. "Thou shalt not" was 
adapted to a ruder age of the world; "Thou shalt" 
was now to take its place. The ineffectiveness of 
merely negative instruction is shown every day. Take 
the case of the gambler : tell him that gambling will 
bring him to ruin or inflict ruin on others ; insist upou 
it that gambling is a perilous and mischievous prac- 
tice, and not improbably the gambler will assent to 
the doctrine: but will he abandon the habit? Go 



142 ECCE DEUS. 

further : imprison the gambler ; take from him all 
gambling instruments, and condemn him to live in 
penniless poverty all the rest of his days : does he 
cease to be a gambler? Only in the lowest sense ; he 
is still a gambler in spirit ; the evil is untouched. 
What does Christ propose in such a case? He not 
only casts out the devil, but he puts in the Holy Spirit. 
He gives the gambler something better to do, and 
proves his entire success by leaving the man in the 
world, yet keeping him from the evil. It would be a 
poor thing to take the man out of the world ; if he 
required to be so taken, that very fact would prove 
that he was not perfectly healed by Christ. The most 
conclusive testimony which is afforded of the divine 
force of truth is that men continue in the world, though 
inhaling the atmosphere of heaven. Satan is put under 
their feet. They are still in the region of war, but 
protected by impenetrable armor. 

The fact that life must have occupation, shows the 
inutility of merely negative teaching. Life cannot 
remain quiescent ; it has appropriative and distributive 
functions, and must operate accordingly. If it be not 
pursuing good, it must be doing mischief. How does 
Christ propose to engage those functions? 

We may simplify the course of inquiry by confining 
it to the subject of amusements. The mirthful side of 
human nature must be provided for. The sects have 
shut up the theatre, the race-course, and the dancing- 
saloon ; they have forbidden game after game ; the Ten 
Commandments they have displaced by a hundred of 
their own, each commencing with " Thou shalt not J* 
Nothing was easier, and nothing was more useless. A 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. I43 

man loves the drama passionately ; he sees only the 
ideal side of it ; the true interpretation of a great poem 
is to him the most refined of luxuries ; he is entranced 
by the genius of art. The sects say to him, You must 
give up the drama, and he receives the intimation with 
great surprise, probably too with some disgust. The 
intimation may be given to him by a man who hardly 
knows the meaning of the word drama, who has no 
soul for poetry, no eye for art — a man who would 
throw jewels away because the casket had been spotted 
with mud. Are the feelings of the dramatist not easily 
conceivable, and do they not under such circumstances 
call for sympathy? Christ never told his disciples not 
to go to the theatre, the race-course, or the revel ; from 
end to end of his teaching no such prohibition can be 
found. What then did Christ do? He said, " Make 
the tree good, and the fruit will be good ; " don't trim 
the leaves, vitalize the root ; don't attach, but develop. 
He opened, as we have seen, a wide field of philan- 
thropic service, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, 
clothing the naked, preaching liberty to the captive ; 
he filled men with his own spirit, and then left them 
to go whithersoever it would conduct them. Christ 
did not teach from the outward to the inward, but from 
the inward to the outward. It is better to give a man 
a good principle than a good practice ; it is better to 
be good than merely to behave well ; the one is char- 
acter, the other is convenience. Christ's plan of meet- 
ing the wants of all sides of human life was stated in 
one sentence — " I have given them thy word, " He 
had put a spirit and a standard within them. The law 
was henceforth not an outside letter, but an internal 



144 ECCE DEUS. 

voice. The holy Word gave place to the Holy Spirit. 
It was as if a new sense had been added to the Chris- 
tian nature — a sense of immediate and accurate moral 
touch which instantly discovered the quality of every 
doctrine or act. This is given to every man who is in 
Christ ; who has eaten his flesh and drunk his blood, 
and so become essentially one with him. 

As to questions in casuistry which come up again 
and again in practical life, one of the ablest reasoners 
in the early church has laid down principles of univer- 
sal and unerring application. Christ determined the 
fundamental point, and Paul followed with special 
illustrations. It may be well to spend a moment with 
Paul, that we may see what his interpretation of 
Christ's idea was. There had been a discussion in one 
of the Christian communities respecting eating, which 
was not unlikely to create a serious division. The 
great apostolic casuist, who had in him a volume of 
humanity second only to the Son of Man, and who 
could consequently see most sides of a controverted 
subject, argued the cause with characteristic acumen 
and cogency. " Let not him that eateth," said he, 
" despise him that eateth not; and let not him which 
eateth not judge him that eateth : for God hath received 
him." He insisted upon strict individuality of judg- 
ment and conscience in the case, and became indignant 
with all censoriousness of criticism : " Who art thou 
that judgest another man's servant? To his own master 
he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, 
for God is able to make him stand." The spirit of 
mastery must be put down in the Christian fellowship ; 
there is one Master, and all judgment on the part of 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 145 

the servants is so much detraction from his supremacy 
in the church. On matters of detail, then, there is no 
common law in the Christian brotherhood ; no amuse- 
ment is prescribed, no amusement is forbidden ; a man 
may drink wine, or a man may abstain from wine ; a 
man may eat meat, or he may subsist on herbs ; a man 
may esteem one day above another, or he may esteem 
every day alike. Let the indwelling Spirit determine. 
"Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou 
set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before 
the judgment seat of Christ." The church is not con- 
federated upon questions of casuistry ; it is founded on 
a common faith and a common philanthropy. It may 
be inquired — Since the Spirit is the same, ought not 
the results to be the same? Certainly not. The re- 
sults come through the idiosyncrasies of each man's 
constitution. No two men are alike, though all men 
are made by God. One man is naturally contempla- 
tive, another active ; one melancholy, another mirthful ; 
one enterprising, another conservative. Christianity 
does not change the basis of a man's individuality, but 
gives him a new spirit by which that individuality may 
be properly trained. As to amusements or recreations, 
most of which are supposed to lean towards the devil, 
their election is an individual question. It is for Chris- 
tians to say how far they can go into the world of 
recreation. There is a solemnity which is more sinful 
than laughter ; there is a laughter more acceptable to 
God than solemnity. Some men never laughed, — 
cannot laugh, but they have a ready talent for con- 
demning laughter in others ; what is wanting in mirth 
is made up in censoriousness. They have but a small 
7 



I46 ECCE DEUS. 

endowment of life to answer for, and cannot, con- 
sequently, comprehend the many-sided men who, 
while open to all the influences of mirth, have their 
holy hours of deep and probably agonizing devotion. 

So much for the personal side of the question ; but 
we are to consider the law which is to govern not 
individual men only, but men who are organized into 
a church. How is individuality to stand in relation to 
community? While each man may be a law unto 
himself, each man is not a church unto himself. We 
may continue to argue the case, by still keeping to the 
simple illustration of an amusement. Differences of 
opinion do obtain as to amusements, but it should be 
borne in mind that the church, as such, is never asked 
to adopt any method of amusement or recreation ; it 
is exclusively a personal matter, and can only relate 
to the corporate body on the ground of influence or 
example. The reputation of the whole may be com- 
promised by the action of a part. Paul lays down 
this doctrine : " I know, and am persuaded by the 
Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but 
to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him 
it is unclean." The important point of this statement 
is, that it is given on Christ's own authority ; and it 
certainly is of the utmost consequence to have it laid 
down by Jesus Christ himself that " there is nothing 
unclean of itself." But the question forced upon men 
by their association is, how far private tastes are to be 
controlled by the public opinion of the body? Are 
they to be controlled at all ? Paul says that some are 
" weak in the faith," from which it may be inferred 
that some are strong : how then ? Are the weak to 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 147 

consider the strong, or the strong to consider the 
weak? If family life may afford a suggestion, noth- 
ing can be clearer than that the strong are to con- 
sider the weak ; the mother lives for the infant, not the 
infant for the mother. The case is put in the clearest 
light by Paul : " Let us not therefore judge one an- 
other any more ; but judge this rather, that no man 
put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his 
brother's way." This is the very spirit of Christian 
philanthropy, the considerations of self being sub- 
ordinated to consideration of others. " What ! " some 
one may exclaim, " am I to surrender my pleasures, 
because there are persons called weak brethren in the 
world ? The pleasures are to me perfectly legitimate, 
and I think it unreasonable that any man should be 
offended by them." A strong case, indeed, when 
viewed from any point but that of Christian philan- 
thropy. It is just here, however, that the stress 
comes upon that philanthropy, and tests it. The 
philanthropy is not a mere sentiment, but a control- 
ling power, having no self, and knowing nothing but 
man in the image of God. In proportion as a man 
gives up the very smallest enjoyment for the sake of 
his brother man, he comes to know what is meant by 
sacrifice, by self-sacrifice, and gets at least a distant 
glimpse of the Philanthropist who " pleased not him- 
self." Why the shock at such a proposition as is 
above suggested? The very principle is carried out 
in family life. The parent denies himself many enjoy- 
ments for the sake of his child : is not the church a 
family? When the parent says, "I shall not do this, 
because my child may get from it a wrong impression 



148 ECCE DEUS. 

of life ; the thing itself would be right enough to me, 
but he cannot yet comprehend my reasons for doing 
it : therefore, purely for his sake, I shall abstain ; " he 
will see new and overpowering meanings in such 
expressions as — " Christ pleased not himself; " 
" Christ loved us, and gave himself for us;" " For 
their sakes, I sanctify myself; " " He took upon 
him the form of a servant." These expressions can- 
not be opened by the lexicographer ; they are known 
only to the practical philanthropist. The heart re- 
ceives the interpretation, while the head can but 
wonder. A man has been heard to say, that never 
until he saw his own little child in pain, did he know 
what was meant by the words, " Like as a father 
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth thern that fear 
him." His own nature became the interpreter of 
God's. Through an analogous process we come to 
understand somewhat of the mystery of Christ's sacri- 
fice. As a written doctrine, it is little more than an 
external beauty, thought to be too sacred for imitation 
or reproduction in any degree ; but when once the 
spirit of sacrifice has been developed, it brings with it 
a sweetness beyond all other sweetness, and a con- 
sciousness of spiritual dominion, kindred to being " ex- 
alted to be a Prince and a Saviour." The range of 
self-sacrifice is moie extensive than is commonly sup- 
posed. The child who sits silently in a sick-room lest 
a dying parent should be disturbed, is within that 
range ; so is the mother who gives up her days and 
nights to her sickening infant ; so is the man who 
divides his last loaf with his hungering neighbor; 
and so is the noble creature who denies himself a 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 149 

luxury, lest a weak brother should stumble. All this 
is included in Christ's idea of sacrifice ; with this 
difference, however, that while the parent sacrifices 
for his child, and the neighbor for a man of kindred 
heart, Christ died for his enemies. This disclosed the 
greatness of his nature. He saw in man what no 
other eye could see. He did for his enemies what 
few men would do for their friends, so that from his 
lips as from no other could come the command, 
" Love your enemies." 

In this way Christ broke in upon the organized self- 
ishness of the world, and " troubled" society with his 
unearthly doctrine of self-abnegation. And in this 
way he proposed to keep up eternally the distinction 
between the church and the world, and so to preserve 
his disciples from evil, while they continued more or 
less in the very midst of their old associations. The 
spirit of sacrifice is the best defence against evil ; not 
the spirit of criticism, not the sharpness of wit, not 
the resources of experience, but the spirit of self-sup- 
pression as it was manifested by Jesus Christ in the 
Temptation. Every temptation was an appeal to 
self; every answer showed how self could be held in 
perfect subjection. This was the root of his power ; it 
came to fruition on the Cross. 

Reverting to the church, we find a distinct law laid 
down by Paul for the regulation of associated life : 
" Ye have been called unto liberty ; only use not 
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve 
one another." We have still the same principle of 
philanthropy called into exercise. It is perfectly true 
that a man has liberty, but it is also true that liberty 



150 ECCE DEUS. 

is to be the servant of love. Liberty is consistent with 
self, but love is not ; therefore love is the final law. 
The possessor of mere liberty (assuming that to be 
possible) may take counsel with himself as to enjoy- 
ment ; may write a detailed programme, and repel 
dictation ; but the man whose liberty is controlled by 
love will ask how this or that will affect the persons 
who observe his conduct, or come under his influ- 
ence. He will instantly explode the sophism that men 
should come up to him rather than that he should go 
down to them ; like his Master, he will take upon him 
the form of a servant, that he may deliver those who 
are in a low estate. 

To those who have come into liberty, but have not 
yet attained perfect love, it may be well to recall the 
purpose of discipline. Every man should be king 
over himself. Christ insists upon the supremacy of 
the whole over the part, when he commands the 
cutting off or plucking out of an offending member 
of the body. To be able to look at a pleasure, yet to 
keep it at arm's length for the sake of a brother, is the 
highest attainment of discipline. The disciplined man 
enjoys the spoils of a large conquest ; in conquering 
himself he has conquered his principal foe. He can 
look at the forbidden tree, acknowledge that it is 
pleasant to the eyes, and, probably, a tree " to be 
desired to make one wise," and yet tell the damning 
serpent that there is no folly so great as the wisdom 
which comes through violating love. The fear is that 
the disciplinarian may become ungenial in judgment. 
The man who has cut off his right hand may be 
tempted to think that other men should cut off their 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WOULD. 151 

right hands ; and the man with one eye may think it 
hard that other people should have two. Christ fore- 
saw this, and constantly turned men back upon them- 
selves to consider what was wanted by their own pecu- 
liar constitution, and he gave them the benefit of his 
own prayers, as in the case of Simon Peter, for whom 
he specially prayed that his faith might not fail. One 
of the main purposes of discipline will be frustrated if 
it fail to give men a firmer control over their critical 
faculty when they institute a comparison between 
themselves and others. Censure is inconsistent with 
philanthropy, and philanthropy is the last result of a 
perfect discipline. 

The disciplined man will not keep men from evil 
by shouting moral maxims at them, as the modern 
church has been doing for a long series of years. 
The great disciplinarian, who knew both how to 
abound and how to be abased, who kept his body 
under, and checked himself at every point, lest, after 
having preached to others, he should become a cast- 
away, adopted the only successful method of main- 
taining a permanent hold upon men — a literal tran- 
script of Christ's method, — " Though I be free from 
all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that 
I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became 
as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews ; to them that are 
under the law, as under the law, that I might gain 
them that are under the law ; to them that are without 
law, as without law (being not without law to God, 
but under the law to Christ), that I might gzin them 
that are without law. To the weak became I as 
weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all 



152 ECCE DEUS. 

things to all men." This is the fruit of discipline. 
Paul looked at things from every man's own particu- 
lar stand-point. To each man he said, " I shall come 
round to your point of view, put myself in your cir- 
cumstances, establish a common sympathy, and so 
work my way back to Jesus Christ." This gave him 
a marvellous advantage. When a man goes down to 
teach, he takes with him considerable overplusage of 
power ; but when he goes up to teach, he goes in the 
wrong direction, and strains himself greatly to the 
disgust of those who are above him. The only true 
way of getting up is by going down ; the way to gain 
life is to lose it. " Thou fool, that which thou sowest 
is not quickened except it die." 

The church (now understanding by that term the 
organized sects) is not willing to "lose its life" that 
it may " gain " others ; hence it is the weakest, and, 
humanly speaking, the most despicable institution 
which men are now tolerating. It is afraid of amuse- 
ment ; it is afraid of heresy ; it is afraid of contamina- 
tion ; it is afraid of sinners ; it is afraid of the devil. 
All this must come from a low condition of vitality. 
It shuts itself up within thick walls, sings its hymns, 
hears its periodical platitudes, and then skulks into the 
common streets, as if afraid lest the multitude should 
know what it had been doing. Nothing can be more 
un-Christlike that is not positively devilish. The 
worst feature of this cowardly fear is that it is often 
expressed in a bad spirit, venom being mistaken for 
strength. The sin is not so much in the thing said, 
as in the way of saying it. It is forgotten, too, by 
the sect-church, that there are other sins than those 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 1 53 

which reel in the streets or swing on the gallows. 
The man who makes a long prayer, and then op- 
presses the hireling, is as an unclean beast in the sanc- 
tuary ; so is the man who would not part with a leaf 
from his catechism, yet makes his home a very hell by 
a fiendish temper ; so is the man who spends his life 
in scenting the heresies of doctrine, and yet cultivates 
the blacker heresies of life. Such a course brings 
Christ into disrepute. He is crucified by those who 
bear his name. Christ's work must be done in 
Christ's spirit, and in Christ's way. He went among 
men turning the water into wine, and celebrating the 
prodigal's return with music and dancing. The sect- 
church has imagined that it must stand aloof from bad 
men lest it should receive contamination. This is a 
melancholy confession of weakness, bringing the most 
undeserved and humiliating discredit upon the power 
of the Holy Ghost in the human soul. It is as if the 
salt should stand aloof from the flesh lest it should be 
corrupted ; or as if the light should stand aloof from 
the darkness lest it should be obscured. Christ never 
shut himself up from the wicked, and yet never 
seemed to be so far from them as when in their very 
midst. Other men's refinement became vulgarity 
when contrasted with his gentleness ; their wisdom 
became folly under the lustre of his revelations ; and 
Solomon's grandeur faded beside the lily which Christ 
pointed out. When bad men meet alone they lose 
the advantage of moral contrast, and measuring them- 
selves by themselves they commit the falsehood of 
exaggeration. Christ saved men from this in his own 
day, and would save them from it now, but for the 



154 ECCE DE us. 

narrowness of sects. The coarsest man feels a meas- 
ure of restraint in the presence of a gentle, pure 
woman ; what might not the evil sections of society 
feel in the presence of the embodied holiness of the 
Infinite God? " No man lighteth a candle to put it 
under a bushel, but he setteth it on a candlestick, that 
it may give light to all that are in the house." There 
is a good deal in the setting, as well as in the candle ; 
a few inches on this side or that may make all the 
difference between usefulness and uselessness. 

Thus we have incompletely sketched the position of 
the church in the world, and shown how the church is 
to be protected from the evils by which it is sur- 
rounded. Evil is to be extinguished, not by mere 
verbal denunciation, but by the spirit of goodness, the 
Holy Spirit. Darkness will not be removed by 
anathema, but by light. Individual liberty is to be 
regulated by common philanthropy. The church is 
to be kept from selfishness by sacrifice. This is 
Christ's method, as illustrated in particular cases by 
his great interpreter the apostle Paul. Christ gave his 
followers power to go everywhere, and to take up 
even deadly things without being hurt. He had no 
fear of their being corrupted, but gave them energy 
to save others from corruption ; his own Word dwell- 
ing in them richly. He sent them as sheep among 
wolves, with wisdom and gentleness as their defence. 
They were to pursue evil persons in every direction, 
and to "torment" them "before the time," by the 
presence of an august yet genial purity. They were 
safe, because their Lord was with them. Their 
power was moral, — not the power of purse, or scrip, 



THE CHURCH LEFT IN THE WORLD. 155 

or sword, or many coats, which exercise so illegiti- 
mate an influence in the world. Not what was on, 
but w r hat was in, was their strength. We look for 
the same self-repression to-day, the same moral ma- 
jesty, producing the same startling contrast. Where 
is it? Hidden, no doubt, in some degree under the 
folds of an elaborate civilization, but still, we doubt 
not, in existence ; not all in this sect or in that, but 
partly ; widely scattered, yet not beyond the call of the 
Voice which brought order out of chaos. We cannot 
take so discouraging a view of human society as to 
believe that Christ's influence is diminishing. If it is 
less demonstrative, it may not be less vital. His 
church has not slipped out of the world into a secret 
and nameless grave, though its original compactness 
and accessibility are not what they were. The very 
inquiry which men are now pressing with unexampled 
urgency, is a good sign ; when the anxiety is extreme, 
the satisfaction will not be long delayed. There may 
be a law of subsidence or rest in the progression of 
the Christian society. The tide may be advancing, 
notwithstanding the refluent wave. There is, too, an 
intensive as well as an extensive operation of life ; so 
that what is wanting in demonstrativeness may be 
made up in penetration. Anyhow, Christ's vitality 
cannot be lost in the world ; the seed of the second 
Adam shall be as the sand upon the sea-shore, in- 
numerable. 



i56 



CHAPTER XI. 

CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 

CHRIST prayed that his disciples might be kept 
from evil, but he had also a work to accomplish 
on a larger scale ; not only had he to keep the disci- 
ples who were called by himself personally, but to 
extend their numbers ; and we propose now to con- 
sider how he intended to do this, grouping our sug- 
gestions under the general title given above. To say 
that Christ found human relations disorganized, would 
be to put human history into the tritest form of ex- 
pression ; yet that inclusive fact lies at the bottom of 
his mission and plan among men. The man who was 
made " upright," found out many " inventions," but 
among them all was not that of regaining the equilib- 
rium which he had lost. If man had not destroyed 
his nature, he had disarranged his proportions. A 
very subtle thing is the equipoise. An extra handful 
of dust on the side of a planet might endanger the 
universe. 

At the risk of violating a strictly logical progression 
(though not more so than Christ himself apparently 
did), it may be useful to look at once at the work 
which Christ accomplished in adjusting the relations 
between man aad man ; which will give us, from 
another point, Christ's view of human nature, and 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 157 

place something concrete and immediately appreciable 
before us. It is of primary importance to remark 
that Christ never depreciated manhood in any of its 
forms or conditions, but, on the contrary, continually 
spoke of man with reverence and affection ; not of the 
Jew as a Jew, or the Roman as a Roman, but strictly 
of man as man ; thus incidentally illustrating the 
meaning and force of his own appellation, the Son of 
Man. In one of his most touching parables, he re- 
buked Jewish exclusiveness with great dignity, yet in 
a manner which must have been most galling to the 
haughty men who heard him. It was the priest who 
passed by, and the Levite ; but it was a contemned 
Samaritan who stopped and proved himself a practi- 
cal philanthropist. Would any other Jew but Christ 
have so introduced a Samaritan? And would Christ 
himself, if he had not been more than a Jew? On 
another occasion, he declared that the faith of a 
heathen woman was greater than he had ever seen in 
Israel ; and as he cast his eye over the nations of the 
earth, taking in his comprehensive survey u regions 
Caesar never knew," he boldly told the supposed favor- 
ites of heaven that men should come from the east and 
from the west, from the north and from the south, and 
sit down in the kingdom of heaven. When his con- 
temporaries called themselves the children of Abra- 
ham, John struck the boast off their vaunting lips, by 
telling them that God was able to raise up out of 
the very stones children to Abraham. In the same 
manner, Christ showed that manhood was not a 
geographical term, having one meaning on this coast 
and another on that, but that it was overflowing with 



158 ECCE DEUS. 

moral significance, and stood in very intimate relation 
to God. 

One of his longest discourses was delivered upon 
the subject of the relations between man and man, 
and man and his kingdom. The old and vexed ques- 
tion of gradation came up among the disciples, and 
was referred to the Master for decision. The disciples 
would soon have rent the new kingdom by this ques- 
tion of position, had their leader not quenched their 
carnal aspirations, and showed them that they were 
all equally wrong in their notions. Rulership has 
always been one of the hardest problems which society 
has had to solve, and to-day it lies at the root of all 
war. How can there be a kingdom without ruler- 
ship? The disciples naturally pondered the inquiry, 
and entertained some exciting speculations on the 
point. When the matter so agitated them that they 
could no longer keep it to themselves, they abruptly 
laid it before Christ ; whereupon he delivered a copi- 
ous and impressive address on human nature. He 
called a little child unto him and set him in the midst, 
and said — You trouble yourselves a good deal about 
greatness in my kingdom ; now let me tell you that 
except ye be converted — that is to say, radically 
changed in your self-estimation — and become as sim- 
ple, trustful, and unconscious of your own importance 
as this little child, you shall not so much as even enter 
into that kingdom, much less have any distinguished 
position in it : great, swollen, self-idolizing men cannot 
be admitted ; the gate is strait ; only child-like men 
may pass through. — Nothing could be more foreign 
r^rit of carnal ambition than such an answ*~ 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS 1 59 

It did not leave the subject open for discussion. No 
craft could wriggle out of so positive a doctrine. But 
the text was not exhausted. The little child was still 
there, and Christ continued in the most sweet and 
captivating manner to discourse respecting the great 
value which he attached to manhood. In effect he 
said — Human nature is not to be measured by what 
is accidental, but by what is essential ; you must value 
man as man, even though he be as low in the scale as 
it is possible for any human creature to be. The 
image of God, though much defaced, is upon the 
lowest man ; if you despise him you despise me, for 
the Son of Man is come to seek that which is lost ; he 
will have to go a long way down for it, but it must be 
found. If you undervalue man, you undervalue my 
mission and reproach the wisdom of God ; but if you 
value man as man, apart from all that is accidentally 
repulsive, and receive him in my name, you receive 
me; and whoso receiveth me receiveth not me, but him 
that sent me. We all go together, God, Christ, and 
lowest man ; take one and you take all, reject one and 
you reject all. Take heed that ye despise not one of 
these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their 
angels do always behold the face of my Father which 
is in heaven. Do not look high, as though men were 
to be judged by their stature ; so important, so sublime, 
is humanity, apart altogether from culture and devel- 
opment, that whoso shall offend one of these little ones 
that believe in me, it were better for him that a mill- 
stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were 
drowned in the depths of the sea. 

Such talk about human nature was new. Up to 



l6o ECCE DEUS. 

this time men had hardly advanced farther than to a 
civil regard for those who belonged to their own par- 
ticular nation. But Christ set man above the nation ; 
the gold above the inscription which had been stamped 
upon it. This one circumstance is a commanding 
plea in support of the divine origin of the Christian 
religion, and is in exquisite accord with the whole 
mystery called Christ, so far as we have been able to 
trace it. To reject Christ is, speaking merely in view 
of his humanity, to reject the most consistent and 
powerful vindicator of the dignity and value of human 
nature that ever challenged the attention of the world. 
If we cannot at once join him in some of the higher 
ranges of his discourse, we may at least sit down at this 
point, and learn his view of the capability and worth of 
our own nature. Even Cicero himself apologized to 
a correspondent for referring to the death of a slave, 
who had died in his family. It is, then, to be distinctly 
recognized as a primary fact in Christ's teaching that 
Christ will not allow any man, how sunken soever he 
be, to be despised. No word of contempt can be per- 
mitted ; not even a thought that tends in the direction 
of scorn : " Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in 
danger of hell fire." Not only were men to love those 
who loved them, but to love their enemies, bless those 
that cursed them, and pray for those that despitefully 
used them ; and this they were to do for a most re- 
markable and suggestive reason, " That ye may be the 
children of your Father, who maketh his sun to rise on 
the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain upon the 
just and unjust." When men made a feast they were 
to call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and 
they would be blessed in so doing, for the guests could 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. l6l 

not recompense them, but they should be recompensed 
at the resurrection of the just. The words are now 
so familiar, and have, indeed, produced so great an 
effect upon modern society, that it is difficult to esti- 
mate their influence upon the men to whom they were 
addressed, or the moral courage which was required 
to utter them in the presence of the most exclusive 
social system in all civilization. The poor were not 
to be talked about as a farmer would talk about bog 
land, but to be treated as sharers with the greatest of 
a common human nature ; and the divine element that 
was in them was not only to save them from contempt, 
but to bring them into brotherhood with the foremost 
men. But brotherhood in its true sense cannot come 
from the outside. There is a vital difference between 
patronage and brotherhood. Nothing is easier than 
for a man to conceal his pride under the forms of 
humility ; actually never to stand so high in his own 
estimation as when seen in the public highway arm 
in arm with rags and wretchedness. He then says, 
" Look at me ! this is humility ; I am not ashamed to 
be seen thus." It requires less moral courage to pick 
a beggar out of the ditch than to be seen on friendly 
terms with an honest man who earns weekly w r ages. 
In the one case the very extremity i& its own defence ; 
in the other there is room for several undesirable infer- 
ences on the part of genteel observers. To-day the 
sect-church has conceived an extraordinary liking for 
institutions which touch the low T est strata of society; 
the nobility of the land refreshes itself by teaching the 
ragged and homeless Arabs of England — a very 
beautiful and even heavenly thing when done with a 
pure motive, yet covering a most seductive te^^tation 



l62 ECCE DEUS. 

to confound patronage with brotherhood. It is pos- 
sible to like the rags more than the human nature — 
possible for the rich man to give Lazarus a coat, and 
yet to grind the face of his own servants ; and by so 
much as this is possible, society should drill itself in 
the difficult doctrine that God hath made of one blood, 
and will call to one judgment, all nations of men. 
Society is very careful of its extremities, — its purple 
and its rags, but midway is there not a great cemetery 
filled with living hearts, whose only hope is death? 
Is it, then, really human nature or human circum- 
stances on which benevolence is operating? Society 
has to be saved from mistaking patronage for philan- 
thropy, and can only be so saved by a deep study of 
the life of Jesus Christ. 

Such a civilization as that of the nineteenth century 
brings society very much under the influence of the 
richest culture and refinement. The spirit of the age 
is aesthetic. Even utility now goes abroad gilded and 
brocaded most elaborately. The humblest industry has 
been taught to aspire to a position in the temple of the 
arts ; and nation challenges nation to a comparison 
of handiwork. Under such circumstances there is a 
special temptation to worship faculty, skill, or genius, 
— the attributes rather than the nature of man. We 
now ask for certificates of merit, and make manhood 
prove itself by competitive examinations. And now 
that certificates, medals, and titles are so plentiful, it is a 
bare chance if the uncertificated man escape contempt. 
Men are industriously trained to criticise the external ; 
they are learned in all artificialism ; inexorably exact- 
ing in matters of dress, posture, and pronunciation, 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 1 63 

What, then, can the unconventional man do? What 
if he still be "lost" ? Then the ministry of Christ 
becomes his hope, for he never forgets the " lost " man, 
but goes after him till he is found. Refinement brings 
its own perils. When refinement boasts of itself, it 
becomes vulgarity. True refinement is a question of 
the heart, not an attainment of the schools ; under the 
roughest exterior the most tender sensibilities may 
throb, and under the finest there may be dross and 
dust. After all, then, the question is fundamental : 
man, not circumstances ; man as God made him, not 
as he has made himself. 

A true conception of the value of human nature lies 
at the very foundation of Christ's earthly mission. 
The term salvation is important only so far as human 
nature is important. The Cross is the only adequate 
interpretation of man. Would Christ, from all that 
we have seen of him in this rapid examination only, 
have died for a trifle? Gather a multitude of the 
worst characters that can be found, and let the heart 
say how much of its blood it would shed for their ele- 
vation, Not a drop, probably. It cannot see far 
enough. It sees the worst, not the best. Only God 
can value man ; he knows how he made him ; what 
music there is yet in the untouched chords of the 
human soul ; he knows how terrible would be his own 
loneliness if the child of his heart were lost. But 
some men are vulgar : true, yet they are men still, but 
must be refined. All the gifts of man are to have a 
downward influence as well as an upward tendency. 
Refinement is to refine others. Culture is to be an in- 
spiration, not a terror to those who are still rude. The 



164 ECCE DEUS. 

criminal is to see in the judge what he himself might 
have been, and what even yet he may become. The 
chaste woman is to be the hope, not the dread, of her 
fallen sister. Education is not to enclose itself in an 
unapproachable hermitage, but to move among the 
rude humanities with a subduing and inspiring grace. 
This is the very spirit of Jesus Christ. He said, " It 
is more blessed to give than to receive," and that the 
chief of his disciples was to be servant of all. Merely, 
then, as a matter of argument, it must be allowed that 
Jesus Christ, immeasurably beyond any other teacher, 
recognized the greatness of human nature. How did 
he come by this unparalleled estimate ? Certainly he 
had no inducement to flatter it in return for his per- 
sonal reception on the earth. Sometimes pleasant cir- 
cumstances force weak observers into an exaggeration 
of praise ; but in spite of the harshest reception Christ 
affirmed that God so loved the world that he gave his 
only-begotten Son for its salvation. His verdict is thus 
the more important by reason of the conditions under 
which it was given. Had he been asked to give an 
opinion of human nature before he assumed it, his 
opinion might, on easily understood grounds, have 
been favorable ; but after he has lain in the manger, 
been exposed to hunger and thirst and cold, been 
smitten on the face and condemned as a felon, when 
he has been laughed at as a fanatic or shunned as a 
madman, he speaks of human nature with the fond 
tenderness and lofty reverence of one who was pre- 
paring to die for it. Something more than human 
must explain this humanness. Every other man falls 
short of it : how came a Galilean peasant to have it 



CH1UST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 165 

all? It is an affront to common sense to say that it is 
an imaginary sketch; but even if it be, what then? 
The problem is not solved ; for as only a poet can 
write a poem, so only a Christ could have conceived a 
Christ. 

The first thing, then, that is before us is Christ's ad- 
justment of man's relation to man, giving us deeper 
insight into humanity, inspiring mutual love, and 
strengthening the common trust of society. There is 
another phase of his adjustment of man, which, though 
less commanding, is yet one of great interest — that is, 
his way of setting them towards nature* Christ walked 
much in the open country with his disciples, and gave 
them a new method of reading the landscape and all 
natural objects. He turned nature into a great book 
of illustration ; he showed that every bush was aflame 
with consuming fire and vocal with the utterances of 
God. He made all nature preach the doctrine of trust 
in the divine Fatherhood. He spoke of the lilies as 
pledges of God's care, and pointed to the fowls as an 
illustration of God's watchfulness over all life. He 
bade his disciples consider these things, and lay them 
to heart as defences against distrust or apprehension. 
Who knows how much life there is in a lily? Who 
can measure the distance between God and a flower 
of the field? What connection there is between the 
lily and the man we have not yet been sufficiently edu- 
cated to discern, but Christ's lesson is pointless if there 
is not a line common to all kinds of life, running 
through and binding all. It would be useless to " con- 
sider the lilies " if they and the considerers had no 
point in common, though in the present state of our 



1 66 ECCE DEUS. 

faculties it may be inappreciable ; as well might 
the beggar say that he would "consider" the door- 
plates of the city because the hands that burnished 
them might feed him. The explanation is that the 
universe is a series, and that he who cares for the least 
will care for the greatest ; that simplicity and beauty 
and fragrance and every form of life are all of God, and 
that the Creator of all is also the servant of all. Christ 
thus showed not only the refining and stimulating 
power of nature, but the perfect unity of the Divine 
government, by teaching that the God of the flowers 
is the God of the human race, and that He who cared 
for the ephemeral leaf could not forget the immortal 
man. This lesson is invaluable not only for its imme- 
diate practical comfort, but as warranting the applica- 
tion of inductive reasoning to the Divine nature as 
well as to Divine processes of education and govern- 
ment. In syntax the grammarians have put as and so 
in relation, but Christ teaches us to put them together 
in the deepest questions of experimental religion and 
speculative theology, and thus climb our way up to 
the very seat of the Eternal. He brings men very 
near to God when, in a parallel which would be blas- 
phemous if it were not true, he says, " If ye . . . how 
much more your Father?" — the plane is one, though 
the intermediate points are immeasurably distant, 
Christ says — Begin with the lily and reason upward 
to the absolute, and then descend and teach lessons of 
loving and reverent trust in God to anxious men, who 
are foolishly carrying all the weight of to-morrow on 
shoulders already pressed by the burden of to-day. 
But can the conscious learn from the unconscious? 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 1 67 

Can the man learn anything from the lily? Enough, 
to know that the lily and the man eat at the same 
table, and quench their thirst at a common fountain. 
We have no answer to enigmas respecting the con- 
sciousness of nature ; but as Christ set men down by 
the lily to consider it, they may justly feel that there is 
a mystery in life of the lowest kinds which compels 
the conclusion, solemn yet gladsome, that the whole 
earth is sacred with the presence of God — the very 
gate of heaven. 

The third relation which Christ came to adjust (the 
first, indeed, in order of importance) was the relation 
of man to God ; and in the consideration of this point 
we shall ascertain something of what may be distinc- 
tively termed Christ's theology — Christ's view and 
representation of God. Christ revealed God, not by 
direct religious teaching alone, but by the whole tenor 
of his course among men. It might have been sup- 
posed, had the matter been submitted to conjecture, 
that in the first instance Christ would have delivered 
elaborate discourses concerning the Godhead, and, 
by frank statements about heaven and his own pre- 
incarnate position therein, have met and satisfied the 
natural curiosity of his hearers. It does not appear 
that Christ adopted the most likely means to accom- 
plish his work ; on the contrary, he seems to have 
done everything to excite suspicion and prejudice, to 
have tantalized expectation, and mocked the efforts of 
natural reasoning. We have now to deal with his 
method of revealing God, and putting man in a right 
relation to him ; and we venture to say that however 
far conjecture may be disappointed in that method, it 



1 68 ECCE DEUS. 

will be allowed that no teacher ever represented God 
in so pleasing and attractive a manner. There is 
depth enough of solemnity, too. No hearer can feel 
a disposition towards levity while listening to Christ's 
expositions of God's nature. God, according to those 
expositions, is not only unseen, but invisible ; no man 
hath seen him, only the Son ; no man but the Son can 
reveal him : here is majesty, — here a feeling of awe 
steals over the listener. Assuming the truth of these 
statements, one conclusion cannot be escaped, viz., 
that all previous relations and all subsequent doctrines 
respecting the Godhead must be judged by Christ's 
words, and accepted only so far as they are consonant 
with them. No greater claim could be asserted by 
any teacher than to be the only revealer of God. This 
point should be dwelt upon with most careful reflec- 
tion. When a man separates himself from all other 
men, and even confines God himself to one instrument 
of revelation, he assumes a position dangerous by its 
very extremity, unless the claim be upheld by irref- 
ragable and universally appreciable proofs. 

From Christ's teaching respecting God we learn, in 
so many words, that God is a Spirit, and that God is 
a Father, — really the only two things that men 
require to know about him, all else being involved 
in those designations. In teaching these doctrines, 
Christ said that spirit must be met by spirit, and 
therefore men must be born again ; and, secondly, that 
fatherhood on the part of God must be met by sonship 
on the part of man, and therefore that he had himself 
come amongst men as God's Son. These high revela- 
tions could not be understood at once, and therefore he 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 1 69 

approached them from distant points, always, how- 
ever, keeping his eye steadily upon them. Healing 
the body was an alphabetic way of saying, " Ye must 
be born again ; " ministering to human want was the 
same way of saying, " God is your Father." He 
began at the lowest accessible point, and pursued his 
way to the ultimate truths. An illustration of this 
happy method of graduating philanthropic service is 
given in one of the most dramatic and exciting 
chapters in the New Testament. In that chapter 
the hero says, " Whether he be a sinner or no I know 
not ; one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I 
see." This u one thing " was the rock from which the 
man could not be displaced, and he was v^termined 
to stand there until he should be called higher. Here 
is Christ's plan of always being behind a man with a 
fact, and in front of him with a doctrine. The church 
is exposed to the peril of taking the doctrine into its 
care and leaving the fact, — a plan of service as ill 
adapted to the temper and condition of society now as 
it was in the days of Christ. Men must be met at the 
points where remedial ideas are most needed and will 
be best understood. The blind man needs something 
more than " the concord of sweet sounds ; " in his case 
effort must be directed to the eye, not to the ear. The 
man who is perishing of hunger needs bread most, 
not doctrine or prayer. The soul that is possessed 
with a devil must first be dispossessed, then taught 
divine doctrines. Instrumentalities must be adapted 
to circumstances. This was certainly Christ's plan 
of movement — not in a sudden and startling manner, 
bewildering the understanding with a recondite dog- 
8 



170 ECCK DEUS. 

ma, but quietly joining man at the most accessible 
]3oint, and charming him into deeper companionship, 
until he who began as a needy client remained as a 
consecrated disciple. Christ's skill in adaptation is 
illustrated sharply by the answer which he returned to 
John's inquiry : " The blind receive their sight, and 
the lame walk ; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf 
hear," — that is to say, every man found in Christ 
" the piece which was lost : " the deaf were not 
sharpened in vision, they received their hearing ; the 
blind were not quickened in hearing, they received 
their sight ; the leper was not heightened in stature, he 
was cleansed of his leprosy. By so working, it was 
indeed sometimes difficult to see the exact relation of 
the physical deed to the spiritual purpose of Christ's 
mission — viz., to reveal the Father. We are tempted 
to become impatient with Christ as he devotes so 
much attention to details : it seems almost a waste of 
time for a man who came to save a world to be linger- 
ing over a special case of disease. Could the blind 
man not have had his soul saved without first having 
his eyes open? If not, what becomes of the blind 
men of to-day? We think that we could have 
hastened Christ's movements, especially in the physi- 
cal department of his service. Why not speak one 
healing word for all, so that throughout the land 
every sick-bed might have been vacated at the same 
hour? What a magnificent introduction to spiritual 
labor this would have been ! How quickly he could 
thus have come to his main point — the revelation of 
God ! Yet he lingers over individual cases with a 
calmness which baffles us, considering how much 



CHRIST ADJUSTING HUMAN RELATIONS. 171 

work lies before him. But is it not the same with 
him whom we know as Creator? Does he not dally 
most vexatiously in physical processes ? How long a 
time he takes to mould an ear of corn ! And what a 
waste of power it appears, that the earth should bring 
forth but one harvest in the year ! In his physical 
service Christ was strikingly like what we know of 
the Creator. The meaning of this slowness may 
come to us in the higher spheres. In the mean time, 
impatience is an infallible sign of weakness. 

On the matter of setting man in a right relation to 
God something further will be said in another chap- 
ter : it is introduced here as completing the statement 
that Christ undertook the adjustment of human rela- 
tions ; and while it is thus before us it may be well 
to repeat that there is nothing revolting in Christ's 
representation of God, but everything that is pleasing 
and satisfying to the tenderest instincts of human 
nature. God is the Spirit ; God is the Father ; God 
is revealed by the Son, and there is no way but 
through the Son to the Father ; God loved the world, 
and proved his love by the gift of his Son. This is 
Christ's theology. In Christ's God there is nothing 
to terrify the heart that yearns for him. He has no 
thirst for revenge, no bloody decree to execute. He 
is so tender that a heart-wish will move him ; so 
generous, that he will withhold nothing from them 
that are reconciled to him. His anger with the 
wicked is only the recoil of his love of the good. 
This being so, Christ says — Come to him ; be as he 
is ; you misunderstand him if you think evil of him ; 



172 ECCE DEUS. 

I know him better than any other being can ever 
know him, and I declare unto you that his power 
and wisdom are equalled by his love. A great 
speech to make to the human world ! How sincere 
it was we may see when we come to study the Cross 
of Christ. 



i73 



CHAPTER XII. 

CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 

HAS the civilization of the nineteenth century 
rendered Christianity obsolete, or has Jesus 
Christ made any provision for the development of 
humanity? Was Christ's merely a day's work done 
in the usual order of things, or had he a reach over 
the ages, controlling and moulding them to the very 
end of the world? Is the New Testament to be 
shelved with "The Republic " or " The Nicomachean 
Ethics ; " or is it the life of the world that now is, 
with its ever-varying phases and attitudes, its storms 
of war, and its revolutions of thought? We may be 
able to gather an answer from Christ's own words. 

Christ repeatedly spoke of his own " hereafter," and 
of the " hereafter " of the church. His criticisms and 
instructions were by no means confined to the past 
and the present ; they were full of anticipation, over- 
flowing the hour in which they were spoken and 
making for themselves a channel through all time. 
There were terms in his speech which denoted great 
purposes as to time, persons, and moral victories, — 
such as " unto the end of the world," " forever," 
" every creature," " all nations," " east, west, north, 
and south." It seems to be necessary, therefore, to 
preserve the logical consistency of Christ's method, 



174 ECCE DEUS. 

that as it was "expedient" for the disciples that he 
should " go away," that some provision should be 
made for the expected development of human nature 
and the requirements of the attendant expansion and 
refinement of general civilization. The world would 
certainly become larger, could Christ occupy the 
extended space? The harvest would be great, was 
there root-room enough in Christ's heart? Christ 
entirely reversed what we should have considered 
the proper order of things, and thus gave another 
check to anything like presumptuous criticism of his 
method of redeeming and educating the world. The 
common plan would probably have assumed some 
such shape as this — Christ must abide personally 
among men until the redemptive purpose be fully 
accomplished, not only on his part, but also on the 
part of the world ; it will be best for him to make 
short work, and to break up the present economy as 
soon as he has made clear what is meant by his having 
been given to save men ; or, if he continue the present 
rude structure of society, his disciples will necessarily 
have many questions to ask and many difficulties to 
overcome, and he must be continually at hand, so that 
the reference may be instant and decisive : when the 
last man is safe in heaven, and every possible spoil 
has been recovered from the enemy, then let Christ 
himself abandon the earth, and take the headship of 
the glorified church. Instead of this, which looks so 
feasible and tempting on paper, Christ was actually the 
first to leave the scene of trial, and his disciples were 
consequently deprived of the inspiration and comfort 
of a visible Christ. The poor, simple men had been 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 1 75 

called to a most trying prominence, and the man who 
called them took the earliest opportunity of leaving 
them alone in the world ! Under such circumstances, 
how could the future be other than gloomy and por- 
tentous? The disciples were committed to an idea; 
they bore a name which had a bad repute among all 
the ecclesiastical leaders and persons of social conse- 
quence ; they were to carry the cross as their charac- 
teristic badge, and to be hated of all men for their 
Master's sake ; as sheep among wolves, they were to 
make their perilous way. Knowing all this, Christ 
left them. Would he abandon a half-built tower? 
Did he leave because his resources were exhausted, 
or because he could better move the ages from the 
altitude of the heavens? 

We may pause a moment to say, that men can be 
trained to strength only by being thrown on their own 
resources in certain determining crises. The parent 
acts upon this doctrine when he sends his son to a 
distant school, that he may be thrown into contact 
with rivals and strengthened by daily contest with 
eager competitors. There is an educational element 
in opposition, in suffering, and in provocation, and it 
is for very love of his child that the parent withdraws 
the comforts of home and places him ±a circumstances 
which will test his nerve and rouse his soul. The lad 
carries with him all the mingled comfort and pain of 
home associations, upon which his heart will draw 
when the stress of events is heavy upon him ; in their 
veiy absence his parents will be present to him with 
intenser reality than ever, and the hiding of their face 
will bring with it a deeper disclosure of their heart. 



176 ECCE DEUS. 

Ill some such way, only with infinite expansions of 
meaning, shall we come to know what was meant by 
that blank dismay which the disciples must have felt 
when their Master said he intended to leave them. 

It is to be noted that in all Christ's teaching there 
are manifold references to the future. Many a state- 
ment was like a sealed letter, not to be broken but by 
time. The life which Christ sketched was often an 
ideal life — beginning in a grain of mustard-seed, end- 
ing in a great tree. Again and again he hints at what 
shall be, and from the dim " hereafter" draws motives 
for immediate direction. Does not the parent help 
his child over to-day by talking of to-morrow? It is 
not upon a near future that Christ dwells, but upon 
the most distant ranges of terrestrial experience, as 
a father often tells his son what he shall have when 
he is a man. With much detail Christ outlined the 
final assize which he would hold upon " all nations," 
and from the very evening of the world drew consid- 
erations for the government of its morning hours. He 
thus established a practical relation between the events 
of all time, uniting human history by stretching the 
cable of a common Judgment from shore to shore. 
This was enough, meanwhile. He could not, consid- 
ering the moral infancy of the disciples, describe every 
line of latitude and longitude, though each was pres- 
ent to his own mind, but he fixed their eye upon a 
distant and most conspicuous object, nothing less than 
himself enthroned in his glory and encircled by his 
angels, and bade them strike their course over the 
unknown but not ungoverned waters, so that they 
might eventually reach it. The men who had been 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 1 77 

with Christ three years, and heard from his own lips 
a description of the Judgment day, could not go far 
wrong in any question that might arise in their expe- 
rience. The spirit of philanthropy was to be the 
spirit of judgment. It is very remarkable that Christ 
should have enabled men to bring the remotest fact 
of time to bear upon the concerns of the passing 
moment. We can now make every day a day of 
Judgment ; we know the questions which will come 
up ; we know the standard of appeal ; we can antici- 
pate our individual colloquy with the Judge ; we can 
hear his voice ; we can " go away into everlasting 
punishment," or into life eternal. This was a most 
practical provision which Christ made for the devel- 
opment of humanity : by giving us a Judgment day, 
he enabled us to try our deeds by the very fire of the 
final conflagration. All nations were to come to the 
same judgment, and all were to be tried by one Spirit. 
It is then, to say the least of it, remarkable, consider- 
ing how many questions Christ left unanswered, that 
he should have set before men the transactions of the 
final hour of human history. This he would not have 
done had he not contemplated an educational effect. 

As yet, however, we have but two points, the very 
beginning and the very end — Christ's personal min- 
istry and Christ's personal judgment : is there nothing 
between ? Probably the strongest men might be able 
to traverse the distance between those points, but the 
strongest men are few in number ; what is to become 
of the hosts who are to be watched and kept like chil- 
dren ? — men of unsteady purpose, and perverted faculty 
of self-judgment? Christ foresaw the difficulty, and 



T78 ECCE DEUS. 

provided for it. He had given a personal ministry 
and sketched the great judgment ; but how could he 
cover the whole line of human history between ? This 
inquiry he answered in a sentence : " When he, the 
Spirit of Truth, is come, whom I will send unto you 
from the Father, he will guide you into all truth." 
It may be convenient to say in detail what that Spirit 
is, so far as we can gather from the Christian writings : 
he is then (1) the Spirit of truth; (2) the Spirit of 
comfort ; (3) the Spirit of liberty ; (4) the Spirit of 
love ; (5) the Spirit of holiness, because the Spirit of 
God. Now, assuming that these statements are true, 
it is easy to see how Christ has provided for the mul- 
tiplying wants of an expanding civilization. This 
vSpirit fills, overflows man's capacity, and meets, with 
all God-like exuberance, every possible necessity of 
human nature. So to speak, he surrounds man as 
well as dwells in him, and according to the outward 
circumstance as well as the inward condition his min- 
istry is regulated. Thus in the order of revelation we 
have had first that which is natural, afterwards that 
which is spiritual ; first the sacred letter, then the 
Holy Spirit. The ancient church was fed with the 
milk of the Word, the modern church needs strong 
meat : " strong meat belongeth to them that are full 
of age, even those who by reason of use have their 
senses exercised to discern good and evil." Instead 
of burdening the memory with technicalities, Christ 
provided for the quickening of the moral faculty in 
man, and thus, in spiritual things, acted in relation 
to the human soul as in temporal things God had 
done. God gives man power to get products out of 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 1 79 

the soil ; but instead of saying this must be eaten 
and that must be refused, he gives the power, call it 
instinct or reason, which saves him who rightly uses 
it from noxious plants and animals. It was better to 
give the faculty of discrimination than to label all the 
products of the earth. A spirit is better than a cata- 
logue. There are few things in the lower range of 
life more remarkable than man's instinct by which he 
discovers what to eat. Every day he is called upon 
to choose, even so far as the body is concerned, 
between life and death. The life of the body is 
exposed to constant risk. In nearly every field there 
are roots or leaves which might injure or even destroy 
the health of the body ; yet man continues to make 
a selection adapted to his nature. These poisonous 
roots are like so many temptations ; they are to the 
body what vices are to the soul ; yet speaking gen- 
erally — for the exceptions only prove the rule — man 
is superior to them, he refuses if not resists, and saves 
himself. How is this? .Is there not a spirit in man, 
and doth not the inspiration of the Almighty give 
him understanding? "This also cometh forth from 
the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and 
excellent in working." It may be asked, How has 
God provided for material civilization? and the an- 
swer is, By the spirit that is in man ; so it may be 
asked, How has Christ provided for intellectual expan- 
sion, and the corresponding claims which the intellect 
would present? and the answer is substantially the 
same. When Christ opened the eyes of the blind, he 
did not require to create another universe that the 
vision might have an object to rest upon ; the universe 



l8o ECCE DEUS. 

was there, waiting to be looked at. So the universe 
of truth has existed from the beginning, and as there 
are steep hills, perilous precipices, intricate winding 
ways, and not a few tangled forest-paths, he has prom- 
ised the Spirit to guide men into all truth ; emphati- 
cally to guide men, the very word implying difficulty, 
danger, and constantly new evolutions and combina- 
tions ; not only to guide, but to guide into all truth ; 
not into some departments, but into all ; not into ex- 
ternal views of truth, but into its very essence, so that 
men might know truth under every disguise, and be 
able to eliminate it from every sophism and every 
heresy. We know what it is to be so far in sympathy 
with the spirit of a companion as to be able to pro- 
nounce an opinion about any of his reputed actions ; 
instantly we say such a charge or statement is true or 
false ; so entire is our mutual accord, that judgment 
of him is like judgment of our own heart. Our com- 
panion, if of a strong character, has put his spirit 
into us, and instinctively we have come to know 
whether any report of him is likely to be true or 
untrue ; we know so well his magnanimity that w T e 
resent the imputation of any ignoble deed which 
rumor may connect with his name, or accept with 
thankfulness any report which details his excellences 
— in this case our spirit witnesses with the spirit of 
the report that it is true. In a modified degree this 
represents the relation of Christians to Christ ; that 
relation is so intimate, so vital indeed, nothing less 
than consubstantiality having been effected by eating 
his flesh and drinking his blood, that they can unhesi- 
tatingly determine the truth or untruth of any propo- 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. l8l 

sition concerning him, and infallibly distinguish be- 
tween a legitimate expansion of his doctrines and a 
distortion of them. 

T ie intercommunion between the spirit of man and 
the Spirit of God, an intercommunion re-established 
and enlarged by Christ, is the guarantee of purity and 
progress on the part of the church. By Christ's min- 
istry we are now elevated to the highest plane, and 
the words of John have a deep meaning : " The anoint- 
ing which ye have received of him abideth in you, 
and ye need not that any man teach you." The teach- 
ing of the church does not now come from the outside ; 
Christians have in them a well of water springing up 
into eternal life. They judge the preacher and the 
author by the anointing which they have received of 
the Holy One, and by their own spirit are able to try 
all other spirits, whether they are of God. The wit- 
ness of the Spirit changes the aspect and meaning of 
all outward things. The Christian writings them- 
selves are valuable in proportion as the spirit of the 
reader is enlightened by the Spirit that dictated them. 
The dead man is heedless of the sumptuous banquet : 
the dead soul is as heedless of the richer banquet of 
revelation. There must be two witnessing spirits. 
The sun is nothing to the blind man : give him vision, 
and the sun becomes his day. Christ thus provides 
for details by providing for universals. He gives life, 
and he gives the Holy Ghost to guide life ; and in these 
two, yet indivisible gifts, all things necessary for human 
cultivation are included. The world had no adequate 
notion of life until Christ came ; in fact, so vast is the 
volume of life which he offers, that it may be almost 



l82 ECCE DEUS. 

literally said that Christ brought life and immortality 
to light, as things not known before ; not only life and 
immortality as future blessings, but as present and 
immediately available realities. 

The speculative life of the church is marked by an 
immense variety of results. Hardly any two thinkers 
have adopted precisely the same conclusions. How is 
this to be accounted for, if they have been illuminated 
and directed by the same Spirit? Easily and satis- 
factorily. Life is not to be judged by formal logic. 
Ask two travellers who have completed the same 
journey to describe the course they have taken, with 
all the incidents. They have traversed the same road, 
on the same day, under the same conditions, yet the 
statement of the one is meagre, the statement of the 
other minute. How so? They walked under the same 
light, and the great volume of the landscape lay open 
before them. The difference is in the mental habitudes 
of the observers. The eye of the one was trained ; the 
eye of the other was uneducated. The same thing is 
illustrated in the reading of a book : one reader is in- 
structed, another disappointed. And this diversity, 
when the spirit of censoriousness is excluded, is fruit- 
ful of good. It provokes to deeper and more con- 
tinuous investigation ; it saves the intellectual w r orld 
from monotony, stagnation, and death ; it creates a gen- 
erous interest in the gifts of fellow-inquirers. There 
is even a higher benefit : it shows that no one man has 
all the truth ; it breaks up monopoly, it destroys infal- 
libility. There is a truth on every side of polemic 
theology ; and just as men of every clime and race 
are necessary to make up the entire of God's idea of 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 1 83 

humanity, so every degree of truth, and every aspect 
of truth, must be brought together, if we would see 
the totality of God's doctrine. One nation has caught 
its poetry, another its logic ; one has condensed it into 
maxims, another has elaborated it into most complex 
philosophies ; no two of them are agreed as to nomen- 
clature ; still the doctrine, like its author, is One, though 
now it is as steady as a star, and anon it heaves like the 
billows of the sea. 

But these are speculative differences merely ; it still 
remains to inquire how moral aberrations are to be 
accounted for. The answer is, that they are to be ac- 
counted for on moral grounds. Paul admonishes men 
not to grieve the Spirit, and not to quench the Spirit. 
The Spirit is a " guide," not a tyrant. The Spirit 
remains with any man only so long as that man is a 
consenting party. The Spirit may have taught the 
right way, yet the heart may have rejected the teach- 
ing. " Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor." 
Christ said to the Pharisees, " If ye were blind, ye 
should have no sin : but now ye say, We see ; there- 
fore your sin remaineth." The same principle is 
asserted by an apostle who lays down the doctrine : 
" To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, 
to him it is sin." So long as man is man, he must 
have the power of resisting God ; and so long as God is 
God, he must wait until the heart-door be opened from 
the inside. Omnipotence itself cannot force hearts. 

By laying down a few universal principles, sketch- 
ing a kind of river-map, and giving the Spirit of 
Truth to be a constant indwelling guest of the soul, 
Christ is as truly, as potentially, present with this age 



184 ECCE DEUS. 

as he was with his immediate followers in Judaea. 
This, indeed, is not the whole of the fact. Of every 
great man it may be justly said that he is more in- 
fluentially present after his death than during his life. 
Shakspeare exerts a wider influence to-day than in 
the days of his flesh ; so does Milton ; so does Luther ; 
but not so Hannibal, or Caesar in his military aspect, 
for destroyers must decrease, but creators must in- 
crease. Men's names are kept up with men's say- 
ings. It is remarkable, as an eminent observer of 
human nature has said, that the question is not 
only what is said, but who said it? So that the say- 
ing is associated with the person ; and if the saying 
be strong enough to keep pace with the inarch of the 
generations, its author may be said to be with men 
" even unto the end of the world." What is true in 
degree of thinkers is true, in an absolute sense, of the 
man in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily. Notwithstanding the fierce iconoclasm of the 
age, a hard statement bearing the name of Milton will 
secure a more respectful hearing than if it were pro- 
nounced anonymously. This is right. In the heat 
and prejudice of controverted times it is well to with- 
hold the name, but whoever speaks a word that goes 
to the world's heart will quicken an eager desire on 
the part of those whom he has benefited to have his 
personality identified. Christ w T ill never be dissociated 
from Christ's sayings, and in this way he will be with 
his people unto the end of the world, but in a still 
deeper way — deeper because the words will receive 
continually broadening interpretations by the Holy 
Ghost, and be more urgently and powerfully applied 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 1 85 

to human experience. The first reading cannot bring 
out all the meaning of the words. It flows like the 
oil which the prophet blessed. The few words of 
Christ have expanded into libraries ; the poet has sung 
them, the painter has painted them ; and to-day un- 
numbered thousands are eating the bread which is dis- 
tributed by his hand. Seminally, at least, everything 
in morals can be found in Christ. No man has spoken 
truths so deep, so far-reaching, and with this remarka- 
ble circumstance in addition — he was the first speaker 
upon the themes which he discussed, he borrowed 
nothing, he created all. He outlined the most com- 
prehensive theories ; sketched plots which poets might 
work out ; gave rebukes which showed the distance 
which lay between him and all hypocrites, oppressors, 
and self-seekers ; and uttered promises which have 
sunk into the sorrowing hearts of all subsequent gen- 
erations. He is thus, and not thus only, with men 
unto the end of the world. 

Christ said that he came to give men life, and to 
give it " more abundantly." In this latter expression 
he hinted his relation to the great question of human 
development — showed that man would never outgrow 
him, and, in fact, that there was no growth apart 
from his own vitalizing energy. A generous sophism 
lurks in the supposition that one man is as good as 
another, or even that one man is as much a man as 
another. Manhood varies — varies in volume and 
purity. Man grows from his original condition — by 
imperceptible increments, indeed — yet still he grows, 
if the true life be in him, so that two becomes four, 
and five ten ; and as certainly as he grows he becomes 



1 86 ECCE DEUS. 

liberated from the obscurity and humiliation which 
marked his starting-point. Human nature is, of 
course, primordially the same, but its possible degrees 
of development are infinite; and it cannot but be a 
fact of immense importance in this argument, that in 
those countries where most about Christ is known, 
every science and every art is most liberally patronized. 
The light which Christ sheds upon the world has 
never been proved to be unfavorable to the highest 
intellectual cultivation, but has been proved — and, in 
fact, is being proved every day — to be in the highest 
degree favorable to all that can be legitimately classi- 
fied under the term progress. As a simple matter of 
fact, Christ is to-day increasing the life of the world. 
Take a common case : An English Arab is taken off 
the streets by a Christian philanthropist, and placed 
under religious instruction ; he is taught, for the time, 
something of his nature and something of his destiny ; 
according to his capacity the instruction is continued 
to him ; by and by he comes to feel that in some little 
degree he is human, that he has wonderful powers, 
that he may be good and do good : so far the philan- 
thropist has given him " life ; " — still the culture pro- 
ceeds, ideas take a wider range ; the philanthropist 
conducts him from point to point in the circumference 
of knowledge, hoping to find the point most adapted 
to the youth's capability. At length it is found, and 
the quondam Arab becomes an explorer, or scientific 
student, or a man of letters, and so has not only 
"life," but "life more abundantly," — precisely as 
Christ promised. Who called him from the dead, 
and made him a revealer of life to others ? Can the 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 1 87 

scantest justice hesitate as to an answer? There are, 
however, we may probably be reminded, many men 
illustrious in science who are not, in the generally ac- 
cepted sense of the term, or perhaps in any sense of 
the term, " followers of Christ ; " — in what relations 
do they stand to the Life-giver? They may come 
under Christ's own classification, " They that are not 
against us are for us." But what if they are " against" 
Christ? Then they certainly should not require to be 
reminded that the whole atmosphere is, so to speak, 
Christian. All the forces of modern civilization have 
taken effect under decidedly Christianized conditions, 
and the more truly scientific mind will be the last to 
doubt the remote, subtle, and most penetrating in- 
fluence of what may be termed moral climate. The 
whole air in which the intellect moves is charged with 
Christian elements ; and no scientific man would be 
speaking secundum artem if he denied, at least, their 
probable influence on the whole current of opinion 
and practice. There may be a difficulty, in some 
minds, in tracing the connection between Christian 
thought and purely scientific pursuit ; even Aristotle 
confesses that it is " difficult to say how a weaver or 
carpenter would be benefited, with reference to his 
own art, by knowing the self-good ; " yet reflection 
may be able to trace even this apparently remote re- 
lationship. Whatever liberates the mind from low 
and self-seeking purposes, or brings it into more in- 
tensely conscious contact with the absolute, gives the 
whole man a wider and firmer mastery over all that is 
below and around him. The idea is illustrated par- 
tially by the admitted effect of high classical culture 



lS8 ECCE DEUS. 

upon the discussion of general questions of political 
and literary life. The man who has been thoroughly 
drilled in ancient literature will, other things being 
equal, be better able to discuss subjects of common in- 
terest, to trace their bearings and forecast their conse- 
quences, than the unlettered man ; not that there may 
be any very patent connection between philology and 
politics, but because of the severe intellectual disci- 
pline and consequent self-mastery which such drill 
necessitates. Even allowing that Aristotle is right in 
suggesting the difficulty of seeing how a weaver or 
carpenter could be benefited in his own art by know- 
ing the " self-good," it is obvious that the more any 
man knows of any great subject, the less likelihood is 
there of his continuing in the position of a weaver or 
carpenter. Intellectual vitality signifies social eleva- 
tion ; and though some may be disposed to raise the 
grave question, " How could society dispense with its 
weavers or carpenters ? " yet our business relates pri- 
marily to the higher considerations, forasmuch as the 
man is of more importance than the weaver. When 
manhood rises, the industrial arts will feel the effect 
of the elevation. 

The inquiry is, " How did Christ propose to make 
himself not only the contemporary, but the king of all 
ages? " To this inquiry our answer has been, (i) By 
a personal ministry ; (2) By a fully delineated Judg- 
ment ; and (3) By the gift of the Spirit of Truth, 
whose peculiar function it is to take of the things of 
Christ, and show them unto the church. It has been 
admitted by the latest writer on the life of Christ, that 
Christ could, even after his personal withdrawment, 



CHRIST THE CONTEMPORARY OF ALL AGES. 189 

visit his people " in refreshing inspirations and great 
acts of providential justice ; " this admission really 
covers the whole question of Christ's contempora- 
neousness with all ages, for if he can visit his people 
at all in " refreshing inspirations and great acts of 
providential justice," he is necessarily (if faithful to 
himself) the chief factor in human development on the 
Christian side. 



190 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 

CHRIST was pre-eminently a talker. "Never man 
spake like this man," was the testimony of his 
enemies. After reading the doctrines of Plato, Soc- 
rates, or Aristotle, we feel that the specific difference 
between their words and Christ's is the difference be- 
tween an Inquiry and a Revelation. We feel as if at 
any moment they might push a speculation too far, or 
suddenly turn off at a wrong . angle — as if they were 
groping their way along dim and perilous paths, 
throwing gossamers over the dark rivers, and tempt- 
ing men to walk over the unsubstantial bridge ; again 
and again they run the risk of exalting a riddle into a 
problem, or settling a definition into a law. With 
this the method of Jesus Christ most strikingly con- 
trasts. There is, account for it as men please, an 
authority in every tone ; his language is clear, and if 
short, it is final ; it never betrays the faintest sign of 
hesitancy on the part of the speaker ; if it were an 
immediate revelation from Heaven, there could not be 
a sharper outline or a firmer emphasis. Thus much 
may be said simply as a matter of criticism, without 
any prejudgment of the doctrine. It has been sug- 
gested that he spoke with " the authoritative tone and 
earnestness of a Jew," but this suggestion, if meant for 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 191 

an explanation, is pointless : Christ was not the only 
Jew who had spoken ; and if " authoritativeness of 
tone " be characteristic of Jewish teaching, it should 
be borne in mind that Christ was openly and repeat- 
edly contradicted by men who spoke with " the au- 
thoritative tone and earnestness of a Jew,"* — by the 
doctors of the law, by the teachers and leaders of the 
people, by men who held the historic parchments of 
the land ; so that in all fairness " tone " should be set 
against " tone," and it should then be explained how 
the " tone " of the peasant overpowered the " tone " 
of great councils or solemn sanhedrims. The case, 
too, is more strongly in favor of Christ, when it is 
remembered that he abrogated institutions which had 
existed for ages under the special sanction of God. 
Moses, it will be allowed, spoke with u the authorita- 
tive tone and earnestness of a Jew," yet Christ abol- 
ished much that Moses had inaugurated. Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, and Daniel spoke with " the authoritative 
tone and earnestness of a Jew," yet they spoke of 
another, not of themselves ; but Christ was his own 
theme and his own expositor. His immediate disci- 
ples would not be wanting in " the authoritative tone 
and earnestness of a Jew," yet every one of them did 
his wonderful works, not in his own name, but in the 
name of Christ. Looking, therefore, simply at the 
facts, it must be admitted, even in a fuller sense than 
that conveyed by his enemies, that " never man spake 
like this man," — not even Moses, not the great seers 
of Israel, not Elijah on Carmel, not John in the wil- 
derness, nor the contemporary disciples ; — he was 
what he distinctly claimed to be, — separate from all, 
because greater than all. 



I92 ECCE DEUS. 

The manner in which Christ's followers have re- 
ported him is truly marvellous, — a point which calls 
for serious thought on the part of all who wish to go 
carefully through the incidental and tributary evi- 
dence. In our own day it is so common to have 
reports of speeches, that we think little of them ; 
though in many cases so wonderful, yet they have 
come to be regarded as matters of course. But the 
disciples were not shorthand writers ; we do not find 
that one of them was elected clerk, and that in the 
evening of each day he made entries in a common 
journal which all could read and revise ; yet they 
report his discourses often in the first person, and pre- 
serve all the sharpness and vivacity of dialogue, re- 
tort, extemporaneous definition, and appeal. We feel 
throughout that we are reading the words of a talker, 
not of an author ; all the sharp edge of free speech is 
singularly preserved ; so much so that with the least 
effort of imagination, we can be present at the deliv- 
ery of every discourse, or at every passage at arms, 
between Christ and his opponents. A strange, yet 
pleasant feeling of nearness to the event steals over 
every reader of the evangelic story ; no lengthening 
shadows of distance diminish the reader's interest ; 
everything is at hand ! In reading The Laws we are 
always conscious of the presence of an artist. Plato 
has, indeed, arranged all the parts taken by the Guest, 
Clinias, and Megillus with great skill, determining the 
proportions and balancing the conversation with a 
very fine appreciation of the requirements of the dia- 
logue ; yet throughout the elaborate production, we 
feel that it is all art, all the work of one master, who 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 1 93 

in th'e retirement of his home apportioned and decided 
everything so as to work out the particular object he 
intended to compass. On the other hand, in reading 
the Gospels we feel that everything is life-like, spon- 
taneous, and unfinished, yet suggestive and provoca- 
tive of thought beyond anything that has ever come 
from the tongue or pen of man. Yet these Gospels 
contain no prepared speeches, no formal compositions 
— nothing but "sayings," often jagged, broken, un- 
connected, yet singularly full of life. The youngest 
author could make a better mechanical arrangement, 
but the oldest could utter no such electric words. 
Plato's Definitions are practically forgotten, but the 
Nazarene's words intermingle with universal civiliza- 
tion ; and this is the more remarkable as they were 
not formally arranged. A great composer said that 
he was spending a long time over his work because 
he intended it to live long, but this Galilean peasant 
talks extemporaneously, as if simply answering the 
question of the hour ; yet his words float over all gen- 
erations, and are prized by men to-day as if they had 
been addressed exclusively to themselves. This is, 
perhaps, the most wonderful characteristic of the 
words of Jesus. Can this be accounted for by " the 
authoritative tone and earnestness of a Jew " ? Is it 
not rather to be accounted for by " the authoritative 
tone and earnestness" of the Son of Man? These 
" sayings" are not local lamps, but suns set in the 
firmament commanding the range of all nations. The 
Nicomachean Ethics are certainly distinguished by a 
marvellous comprehension of the peculiarities of hu- 
man nature ; yet who will say that the words of Aris- 
9 



194 ECCE DEUS. 

totle are quick with the same intensity of life that is 
characteristic of the " sayings" of Christ? They are, 
no doubt, wise, critical, and often most practical ; yet 
the minuteness of definition and the tedious redun- 
dancy of detail give them a scholastic air which is lit- 
tle adapted to the tumultuous life of all nations. The 
best philosophies of the ancient civilization descend 
so much into detail as to leave no scope for the play 
of life on the part of the reader. Everything is num- 
bered, labelled, docketed, — there it is, take it, or be a 
fool. Plato, as before pointed out, was so voluminous 
in his details, going from statesmanship, philosophy, 
science, and rhetoric to early rising, hunting, dancing, 
money-lending, and Sicilian cookery, as to give one 
the idea that he undertook to do the work of a domes- 
tic gasfltter rather than to bring men into the light of 
the sun. He is so minute as to place a lamp at the 
corner of every street, at the entrance of every house, 
and in every room of every habitation. He was a 
very skilful gasfltter, and very careful ; he ran his trial- 
light over every tube and every tap, but it may be 
doubted whether, after all, he was more than a pains- 
taking gasfltter, — a high character, too, considering 
the general darkness of his time. Now, Christ, instead 
of intermeddling with artificial or secondary light, at 
once, with something more than u the authoritative 
tone and earnestness of a Jew," announced himself as 
" the Light of the world," — not Holm an Hunt's 
" Light of the World," who resembles a belated and 
forlorn traveller carrying a lantern, but a man who 
had the light in him, and through whom it gleamed 
like the sun through a summer cloud. Plato lighted 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 1 95 

his age with gas, Christ lighted the world with the 
sun ; the one was local, the other universal ; the one 
changeable, the other permanent. The heathen phi- 
losophers gave directions, Christ gave life. Aristotle 
expounded diametrical conjunction ; Christ said, " As 
ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so 
unto them." Cicero wrote excellent advices on friend- 
ship ; Christ said, " Love thy neighbor as thyself." 
Plato wrote wise prescriptions for particular diseases ; 
Christ infused his own life into men. The Pythago- 
reans wrote for favorite circles ; Christ sent his gospel 
to " all nations." Aristotle quotes from Plato, Plato 
refers to Homer, and the pages of Cicero abound with 
quotations and allusions ; but Christ quotes immedi- 
ately from the Father, and by so much speaks the 
universal language. 

Christ does not appeal to men as the heathen phi- 
losophers did. They ask opinions, court criticism, and 
even the wily and garrulous Socrates gives men an 
opportunity of differing from him ; but Christ, with 
u the authoritative tone and earnestness" of the Son 
of God, says, " This is absolute ; believe it and be 
saved, or reject it and be damned." He says that he 
came from the Father, that he speaks the word of the 
Father, and that he is returning to the Father. So 
there is nothing between him and God ; immediately 
behind him, though invisible, lies infinitude, and he 
sets himself up as the medium on which the voice of 
the Infinite is broken into human sounds. When a 
man says, " I came forth from the Father, and am 
come into the world ; again I leave the world, and go 
unto the Father," he simply excludes controversy ; 



I96 ECCE DEUS. 

there is no common ground between him and his 
interlocutors ; and, when his words are sustained by 
such mighty deeds as abound in the life of Christ, one 
of two conclusions is inevitable — either the man is 
speaking the most sublime truth or he is uttering the 
most awful falsehoods. He cannot occupy any mid- 
dle position. No man may make himself " equal 
with God," and yet pass in society merely as a good 
man. The morality of language would be violated. 
All human relations would be disorganized. The 
term "God" might be used to palm off the most 
infamous charlatanism, and all exactness of language 
would be supplanted by the exaggerations of an 
inflamed and incoherent ideality. 

At the risk of speaking paradoxic dly, it may be 
said that the sayings of Christ are divine because they 
are so human, and are human because they are so 
divine. " He knew what was in man," and this 
knowledge of human nature was his great weapon 
alike of attack and defence. The intense humanness 
of Christ's life is perhaps most seen and felt in his 
never-failing sympathy with all the conditions of hu- 
man experience. When he tells men not to think 
about what they are to eat, it is because he himself is 
thinking about that subject for them, and is prepared 
to feed them with his own hand : when he calls men 
to courage, he means them to draw upon his own 
power : when he says, " Seek first the kingdom of 
God," he is prepared to make up all that is wanting 
for the daily life. He repeatedly referred to his 
miracles in order to stimulate the faith of his fol- 
lowers ; — " How many baskets full of fragments took 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 1 97 

ye up?" He thus made recollection the ground of 
hope by teaching that divine power was not exhausted 
by the performance of a single miracle. There is a 
kind of power which exhausts itself in one great 
effort, but it is not living power ; it is mechanical, not 
dynamical ; and, though it be seen in human history, 
it is a spasm of weakness, not the throb of a healthy 
heart. Christ told men that the power which had 
worked one miracle could work another, and that 
what was given was but a hint of the resources that 
were untouched. This could not but substantially aid 
the effect of his teaching respecting that all-exciting 
and ever-pressing subject — to-morrow. To most 
men u to-morrow" had been a spectre, but Christ 
showed how it might be an angel. When men looked 
forward to it with fear, Christ inquired, with the 
slightest tremor of reproach in his tone, " How many 
baskets full of fragments took ye up?" Christ never 
held history in contempt. He made yesterday the 
prophet of to-morrow. All this personality of appeal, 
combined with all this practical demonstration of care- 
fulness of human comfort, showed that Christ never 
talked at men, but always to them. His humanness 
was his power. Apart from it he never could have 
been so great a talker. Men would have become 
weary, but in his company they were insensible of the 
flight of time. Men that heard him only on one set 
of subjects left him, but those who had heard him on 
the deepest questions said, "To whom can we go? 
Thou hast the words of eternal life." The heart lived 
on such music. 

There is one peculiarity about the "sayings" of 



I98 ECCE DEUS. 

Christ which is not claimed by the great philosophers, 
and which cannot be accounted for by " the authorita- 
tive tone and earnestness of a Jew ; " that is to say, 
Christ's "sayings" determined the destiny of all who 
heard them, and this peculiarity he specially pointed 
out as enduring forever. To have heard these "say- 
ings " is to have incurred the gravest responsibility. 
A man may read the Ethics of Aristotle, and treat the 
reasoning with contempt without endangering his 
fate ; but no man can read Christ's " sayings" without 
finding " saved" upon one side and " damned" upon 
the other. Is this dogmatism on the part of Christ? 
Undoubtedly. God must be dogmatic. If God could 
hesitate, he would not be God. Do we stumble at the 
solemn words, M He that believeth shall be saved ; he 
that believeth not shall be damned " ? Why should 
we? An agriculturist says practically, " Go ye into 
all the world, and say to every creature that there is a 
particular season for sowing seed: he that believeth 
shall be saved — shall have a harvest; he that be- 
lieveth not shall be lost — shall have no harvest." 
There is thus a gospel of agriculture: why not a 
gospel of salvation? Men's disbelief of God will 
damn them in farming ; why not in religion ? Does 
God speak decisively in the one case and hesitatingly 
in the other? There must be a climacteric point — a 
point of saving or damning — in all the declarations 
of God, because he has spoken the ultimate word on 
all the subjects which he has disclosed. The truth 
upon any matter, high or low, is the point of salva- 
tion or damnation. The man who merely points out 
the right road to a traveller is in a position (with 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 199 

proper modification of the terms) to say to that 
traveller, " He that believeth shall be saved ; he that 
belie veth not shall be damned : " in other words, " Go 
thus and you will reach the object of your journey, but 
go so and you will never reach it." This is the posi- 
tion which Christ assumes, " He that believeth me 
hath life ; he that believeth not me hath not life." Is 
such a projection of his personality consistent with his 
being simply one who spoke with " the authoritative 
tone and earnestness of a Jew " ? 

In the " sayings " of Christ special prominence is 
given to a peculiar form of teaching known as Para- 
bles. The entire history of religious thought might be 
written under the twofold division of Dogma and 
Parable. We are passing through what may be 
emphatically characterized as the parabolic era, 
taking its tone and order of procession from the 
transitional and most excited state of the intellec- 
tual world. In periods of intellectual quiescence, 
it is found that the religious world is settled firmly 
upon theological dogma ; but, in periods of great 
intellectual agitation in scientific and philosophical 
inquiry, the religious idea passes into what may be 
called the parabolic phase; not that dogma is, or can 
be, destroyed, but that the mental nature is engaged 
upon problems rich, truly or deceitfully, in their 
promise of results. This is illustrated vividly in 
Christ's own method of teaching. First he gave 
doctrine, then he gave parable ; the first met the posi- 
tive want of the religious nature, and the second 
stimulated all that was best on the ideal side of the 
intellectual nature. In this manner Christ escaped 



200 ECCE DEUS. 

the stern and cold finality which is characteristic not 
only of all exclusively dogmatic teaching, but of all 
teaching that is narrow, shallow, and vulgar. In 
Christ's " sayings" there was always something be- 
yond, — a quickening sense that the words were but 
the surface of the thought ; there was nothing to 
betoken conclusion, much less exhaustion ; there was 
ever a luminous opening even on the clouds that lay 
deepest along the horizon, which invited the spectator 
to advance and behold yet fuller visions. The dogma 
was decisive ; but the parable set the heart longing for 
closer intercourse with the parabolist. The dogma 
marked the distance which had been travelled ; the 
parable pointed to the distance which lay far ahead ; 
dogma was finished like yesterday, parable had about 
it all the haze, yet all the promise and allurement, of 
to-morrow. It was thus that in a unique sense Christ 
brought out of his treasure " things new" and main- 
tained his hold upon the ages, filling and satisfying 
their entire capacity of vision and desire. The para- 
ble takes the inquirer farther along the line of truth 
than the dogma does. It stands in relation to dogma 
as poetry to prose. " Parabolica," as Bacon says, 
u vero est historia cum typo, quae intellectualia de- 
ducit ad sensum." Even the dogmatic arithmetician 
calls in the aid of the parabolic algebraist at a certain 
point in the science of numbers ; and, from what may 
be described as the parabolic side of truth, pushes 
his inquiries farther than he could have done by 
the narrow dogmas of simple arithmetic. He h car- 
ried forward by symbolism which is founded on 
dogma, yet which reaches, ideally, farther than 
dogma; and, when the symbolic arithmetician says, 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 201 

u Let x represent the unknown quantity," he says in 
his own special sphere of inquiry what Christ says in 
the loftiest region of research when he says, " The 
kingdom of heaven is like unto — ." The kingdom of 
heaven is the " unknown quantity " which Christ 
came to reveal, and he helped men to follow him in 
his wonderful processes by saying, " Let a grain of 
mustard seed, let a costly pearl, let a man sowing 
good seed in his field, let leaven, which a woman 
cast into three measures of meal, let a net cast into 
the sea, represent the unknown quantity." Religious 
symbolism gives scope for all that is most profitable 
in fancy, speculation, or the great dramatic element 
which is in every man. It provides for the enthu- 
siasm of the renewed nature, for that "madness" 
which Plato declares to be essential to poet and 
prophet. It gives such an idea of the unexplained 
range of thought and the possibilities of mind, as goes 
far to explain and justify the bold saying of the 
ancient Sophists, that " probabilities were more to be 
valued than truths." 

" True fiction hath in it a higher end 
Than fact ; it is the possible compared 
With what is merely positive, and gives 
To the conceptive soul an inner world, 
A higher, ampler heaven than that wherein 
The nations sun themselves." 

In connection with this parabolic teaching Christ 
uttered one most remarkable " saying" to his disciples. 
He had been indulging in most varied and vivid 
symbolism, and as he concluded he said, " Have ye 
understood all these things? They say unto him, 
Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore 



202 ECCE DEUS. 

every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom 
of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, 
which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new 
and old." Here is the liberty of the Christian teacher : 
can any charter be more comprehensive ? It com- 
prehends all that is past and all that is to come ; it is 
as old as time, yet new as summer. Thus interpreted, 
Christ becomes, as was said in the last chapter, not 
only the contemporary, but the leader of every age. 
He has the old truth for the heart, and the new phase 
for the eye. He meets the simple and trustful with 
" old things," and encounters the doctors of all 
temples with questions they cannot answer, and 
symbolism which, while it challenges their admira- 
tion, puts to the severest test their genius for the 
interpretation of signs. Christ proceeds upon the 
principle that the world must be educated by enigmas, 
pictures, and problems, and he has commissioned his 
Church to educate it on this basis. He shows that all 
human life is a parable, and that to understand it men 
must follow him now as his disciples did aforetime, 
and ask him to " declare unto them the parable." 
The difficulty of our agitated time is to find men who 
combine the dogmatist with the parabolist ; the chasm 
has occasioned very urgent, ungenerous, and bitter 
strife. It is forgotten that the Dogmatist may be right 
so far as he goes, and that the Parabolist may be 
equally right ; what is wanted is completion by amal- 
gamation ; but where, in the present chaos of religious 
questions, can we hope to find a perfect education? 
The reverent inquirer* though he be a sceptic (not 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 203 

a derisive and self-idolatrous buffoon), may after 
all be a brother who has, by the very bent of his 
mental constitution, begun his studies rather on the 
parabolic than on the dogmatic side of truth, and 
who yet will descend from the hill of symbolism with 
two tables of very stern and decisive dogma. 

This recalls the fact that men proceed even in re- 
ligious inquiry according to the base of their intel- 
lectual nature. Some men are prepared for dogma at 
once, and beyond dogma they can never move. To 
them, Christian theology (we will not say Christian 
ethics) is little better than an embalmed mummy hid- 
den in the solemn pyramid of the past, to be visited 
on Sabbatic occasions, looked at, admired, and left in 
awful solitude and silence until the next visit. To 
men of another and better mould, " the kingdom of 
heaven is like unto" all that is elevating in life, or 
permanent in beauty, or pure in love, or satisfying in 
truth. What wonder if such men fail to understand 
one another, or if the word of strife be heard in the 
discussion of subjects which belong to the innermost 
shrine of the Temple of Peace? The cause of such 
strife is not so much to be found on the side of re- 
ligious inquiry as on the side of human nature. Man 
does not understand man when separated by one de- 
gree of latitude ; nay, man may speak a foreign lan- 
guage even to his own brother. Now it is distinct!)' 
stated that Jesus "knew all men, and needed not that 
any should testify of man, for he knew what was in 
man ; " that is to say, he had a perfect knowledge of 
human nature, and in his teaching he set " the king- 



204 ECCE DEUS. 

dom of heaven " at every variety of angle, so that all 
men might get that particular view of it which would 
most successfully meet their wants. This could be 
done only by a teacher who had a perfect knowledge 
of the nature which he undertook to educate. No 
mental characteristic escaped him. Every mood of 
the soul elicited from him the proper response. The 
consequence was, that he was not followed by any 
particular class of men, but all men went after him — 
the multitude after the multitudinous man. His dis- 
ciples are of course but fractional men, and the power 
of the Christian ministry is proportionately impaired. 
The preacher's accent often makes him a stranger to 
his hearers. He is of course limited by his own indi- 
viduality, and how can the shallow river of his thought 
carry the merchandise of the world ? The preacher's 
power must always be in the ratio of his knowledge 
of human nature. The more of man he has in him, 
the more he will command the attention and homage 
of men. He is but a learned fool who knows every- 
thing but himself. His teaching will be confined to a 
few self-contained dogmas ; it will never give signs of 
that prophetic fire which shrines itself in poesy or 
parable. In discoursing upon rhetoric, Socrates wise- 
ly touches upon this subject of human nature. He 
tells Phaedrus that, " since the power of speech is that 
of leading the soul, it is necessary that he who means 
to be an orator should know how many kinds of soul 
there are." And again he says, " Unless a man has 
reckoned up the different natures of those who w T ill 
have to hear him, and is able to divide things them- 



THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. 205 

selves into species, and to comprehend the several 
particulars under one general idea, he will never be 
skilled in the art of speaking so far as it is possible for 
a man to be so ; " a most marvellous illustration of the 
power of him who spake as never man spake, who 
needed not that any should testify of men, for he knew 
what was in man. He varied the prescription accord- 
ing to the diagnosis. To one man he said, " Sell all 
thou hast ; " to another, " Ye must be born again ; " to 
a third, " Keep the two commandments of the law : " 
he took the wise in their own craftiness, and upon 
the vision of the dreamer he opened such glories as 
had never shone from the artificial heavens of the 
poets. 

We may claim for Christ's " sayings" an originality, 
a compass, and living energy such as have not been 
rivalled by any speaker. This would probably be 
admitted even by the more self-controlled class of 
sceptics. Assuming this to be so, we are thrown back 
upon an old inquiry, " Whence hath this man this 
w T isdom and these mighty works? Is not this the car- 
penter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his 
brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 
And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence, 
then, hath this man all these things ? " That question 
remains to be answered by those who deny his God- 
head. Viewed from the human stand-point, how could 
Christ's contemporaries be other than confounded by 
Christ's wisdom? Can any man rise above the nor- 
mal conditions of his race? Is there a secret way 
from the nethermost stratum of society up to the emi- 



206 ECCE DEUS. 

nence of superhuman wisdom ? How is it that only 
one man has ventured on the giddy ascent ? His 
u sayings " have no charm of style; poetic surprises 
are never attempted ; nearly everything is curt, abrupt, 
and barely allusive, yet to-day, as in the days of his 
flesh, all who weigh his words come to the conclusion 
that " never man spake like this man." Is there no 
argument in this? 



207 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CHRIST AS AN INTERLOCUTOR. 

THE preceding chapter treats mainly of the formal 
" sayings " of Christ ; it is now proposed to look 
at "sayings" which were uttered without the possi- 
bility of preparation, and which, for that reason, must 
afford valuable incidental evidence of the quality of 
Christ's mind. We should shrink from applying such 
a test to any merely human speaker ; for as " great 
Homer sometimes nods," so the most careful student 
may occasionally make slips in extemporaneous con- 
versation which contrast broadly with the exactness 
of his formal preparations. He might properly pro- 
test against being taken at a disadvantage, and would 
certainly claim the right of revising his opinions be- 
fore finally committing himself to them. Jesus Christ 
never claimed any such right ; he never protects him- 
self by a saving clause ; he never hints at possible 
modifications of his opinions ; but immediately and 
unchangeably affirms his judgment of every case that 
is brought before him. He was opposed not only by 
his disciples, but by the strongest and craftiest of the 
learned sects, who to the sharpness of the ripest cul- 
tivation added the sting of the bitterest malignity. 
Under such circumstances the real power and quality 
of Christ's mind would be shown, and the measure 



208 ECCE DEUS. 

of the influence of provocation upon his intellectual 
processes be disclosed. It is proposed, then, to look 
at his common talk, and to inquire whether there is 
anything on the face of the answers themselves to 
explain the supremacy of Jesus Christ as an inter- 
locutor? If his supremacy was functional, then it 
was arbitrary ; if it was personal, then it was rational. 
Is it the man's office, or the man's quality, that makes 
him supreme? 

A few instances will show the respective positions 
occupied by Jesus Christ and his opponents. We may 
begin with collisions of opinion which occurred be- 
tween him and the disciples. When the people were 
in a desert place, Jesus Christ commanded them to be 
fed. The disciples pronounced the command imprac- 
ticable, and apparently they had reason on their side. 
Here was the point of difference. Who spoke the 
magnanimous and generous word, — Jesus Christ, or 
the disciples? On another occasion, children were 
being intruded on Christ's attention ; the disciples pro- 
tested against the annoyance, but Jesus said, u Forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
Who spoke the magnanimous and generous word, — 
Jesus Christ, or the disciples? When the Samaritan 
villagers did not receive Christ, because his face was 
as though he would go to Jerusalem, James and John 
proposed to command fire to come down from heaven 
and consume them ; but Jesus rebuked them and said, 
" Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." 
Here is a direct collision of opinion : who spoke the 
magnanimous and generous word, — Jesus Christ, or 
the disciples? On another occasion John showed 



CHRIST AS AN INTERLOCUTOR. 209 

what the disciples would have done with collateral 
and unrecognized workers ; he said, " Master, we saw 
one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade 
him, because he followeth not with us." Was not 
this a reason strong enough to carry the judgment of 
all men of order? Yet Jesus said, "Forbid him not, 
for he that is not against us is for us." Who spoke 
the magnanimous and generous word, — Jesus Christ, 
or the disciples? When Peter asked him how often 
he was to forgive his brother, Peter suggested seven 
times ; Christ answered, " Not only until seven times, 
but until seventy times seven : " who spoke the mag- 
nanimous and generous word, — Jesus Christ, or the 
disciples ? 

The remarkable point in such instances is that the 
disciples themselves (the corrected men, not the cor- 
recting Man) are the narrators. Men are not prone 
to publish their own ignorance or expose their own 
errors, yet this is literally what the disciples did. In 
every instance they show that they were wrong and 
that their Master was right. They never seek, though 
they had the pen in their own hands, to modify Christ's 
opinion, or to interpose after-thoughts which would 
throw doubt on Christ's judgment. As impostors, 
they need not have set Christ up as being always 
right; they might have paid an occasional tribute to 
their own sagacity ; they might have outvoted him 
sometimes ; yet they concur (without one another's 
knowledge) in stating that in all disputed or misunder- 
stood cases, they were always wrong and he was 
always right. Nor do they state this in summary 
terms ; they report the cases in detail, and it is evr- 



2IO ECCE DEUS. 

dent upon the face of the answers themselves that 
Jesus Christ's supremacy was not an arbitrary lord- 
ship, but the legitimate influence which attaches to 
great intellectual and moral elevation. Sometimes, 
in human relations, reasoning comes into collision 
with authority, but in such cases authority overrides 
all opposition : the reasoning of soldiers, for example, 
may oppose the authority of commanders, but it is — 

" Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to do and die; " 

they are " men under authority," — it may be an au- 
thority with reason, or an authority against reason, 
but the determining fact is authority. In the case of 
Jesus Christ's answers, the authority is the reason, and 
the reason is the authority ; the authority and the rea- 
son are coincident and identical. 

The foregoing instances of collision occurred be- 
tween Christ and his disciples ; we have now to look 
at those between Christ and his avowed opponents. 
His disciples might have been disposed to yield readily, 
but his enemies would maintain the dispute obstinately. 
On one occasion the Pharisees, despairing of a casual 
victory, actually " took counsel how they might en- 
tangle him in his talk ; " they approached the attack 
deliberately, and by so much had the advantage of 
the interlocutor who was expected to give an instant 
answer. The force of the Pharisees was in the 
" counsel" which they took ; the weakness of Christ, 
viewed from a purely human point, was in his want 
of opportunity for preparation. A number of reso- 



CHRIST AS AN INTERLOCUTOR. 211 

lute partisans, comprising disciples of the Pharisees, 
with the Herodians, addressed Jesus Christ in terms 
which were intended to elicit an answer from his 
vanity rather than his judgment ; they told him that 
he was true, that he taught the way of God in truth, 
and that he cared not for any man, nor regarded the 
person of men (deceitful words, which would have 
victimized an unbalanced mind), and then they put 
their case before him. Instantly, as if he had been 
specially prepared for that particular mode of attack, 
he turned upon them and said, " Why tempt ye me, 
ye hypocrites ? " Then he told them to render what 
was due alike to God and to man. On the same day 
another deputation, this time Sadducean, waited upon 
him, and endeavored to bring him into collision with 
Moses, upon what they had conceived as a practical 
difficulty in the resurrection ; but he told them that 
they erred, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power 
of God, for " in the resurrection they neither marry, 
nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of 
God in heaven. " Upon hearing that " he had put the 
Sadducees to silence," the Pharisees resolved to make 
another attempt ; and one of their lawyers put a ques- 
tion concerning the Law, which Jesus Christ answered 
as clearly and fully as if he had had specific notice of 
the inquiry. These cases occurred in succession, and 
the general opinion, as reported, shows that in none 
of them was Jesus Christ worsted. The general opin- 
ion is expressed thus : — in the case of the tribute 
money, " they marvelled, and left him, and went their 
way;" in the case of the resurrection, "they were 
astonished at his doctrine ; " in the case of the lawyer, 



212 ECCE DEUS. 

and the subsequent discourse, " no man was able to 
answer him a word, neither durst any man from that 
day forth ask him any more questions." 

The basis of argument will be complete, if to in- 
stances of opposition between Christ and his disciples, 
and Christ and his enemies, be added an instance or 
two of Christ's method of meeting those who were 
immediately concerned in his judgment and death. 
When he was brought before Caiaphas, it was with 
extreme difficulty that the high priest could prevail 
upon him to speak ; not, indeed, until he had adjured 
him by the living God : then the answer was, "Here- 
after shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right 
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." 
In other cases, neither Pilate nor any of the officers 
could break his silence: "Jesus held his peace;" 
" he answered nothing ; " " he answered him to never 
a word, insomuch that the governor marvelled great- 
ly." At last this great speaker was silent, and his in- 
terrogators knew not the difference between the silence 
of obstinacy and the silence of a lamb brought to the 
slaughter. What storms of the heart were covered 
by that silence ! The great purpose of God had now 
passed beyond the region of debate and clamor ; 
words were of no further use ; the Man was not on 
his defence as a criminal, he was on his trial as a Sac- 
rifice ! Already he had prayed that the cup might 
pass, but in a second prayer he had been strengthened 
to say, " Thy will be done ! " After such agony how 
could he talk to men whose questions were technical, 
and whose share in the work was a mystery which no 
explanation could simplify? He must now speak by 



CHRIST AS AN INTERLOCUTOR. 213 

suffering, and by dying as no other man had ever 
died. 

With all these examples to guide our judgment, it 
may now be asked, Is there anything on the face of 
the answers themselves to account for Christ's su- 
prcmacy? Setting aside all theological tenets and 
prejudices, it cannot be denied that, viewed simply 
as answers between man and man, the answers of 
Jesus Christ are superior in completeness to those of 
his interlocutors. But what is the value of complete- 
ness as an argument? Obviously, not in* theology 
only, but in all the subjects of human inquiry, com- 
pleteness is the final test of wisdom and accuracy. 
He who approaches completeness approaches the ab- 
solute : he who approaches the Absolute approaches 
God. When Newton proved that the force which 
preserves planetary order is identical with the force 
by which an apple falls to the ground, he was, by 
that discovery, so much nearer God, because so much 
nearer a complete idea of the universe than any infe- 
rior discoverer had ever been. Now, in all the dis- 
putes between Christ and his contemporaries, it will 
be found that the tendency, at least, towards complete- 
ness is invariably on the side of Christ, — a complete- 
ness alike mental and moral. Christ never speaks the 
narrow or intolerant word ; never does the mean or 
selfish deed ; never resorts to the reactionary or inex- 
pansive tradition. He is willing to feed the multitude, 
to bless little children, to protect collateral though 
unbaptized workers, to walk two miles instead of one, 
to give his cloak as well as his coat, to give Caesar his 
due as well as God, and to trust his truth to persua- 



214 ECCE DEUS. 

sion rather than to the sword. In all this, interpreted 
by common sense alone, not by the canons of secta- 
rian science, Christ is the great man, the magnani- 
mous man, the complete man ; and even in the awful 
silence referred to, he would have been less silent if 
his view had been less complete ; it was because he 
saw all that he said nothing. 

The word " tendency " just employed must not be 
misunderstood. The reason of its use is, that Jesus 
Christ on some occasions purposely refrained from 
giving complete answers ; but on those occasions he 
generally intimated that the incompleteness was either 
temporary, or designed in the special interest of his 
hearers : for example, " What thou knowest not now 
thou shalt know hereafter ; " there the incompleteness 
was temporary; — and, in another place, U I have 
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them 
now," the incompleteness was studiously adapted to 
the capacity and condition of the disciples. In addi- 
tion to such special instances, there is the great prom- 
ise of completejtess : " When he, the Spirit of truth, 
is come, he will guide you into all truth." The very 
conception of possible completeness, accompanied by 
a promise of its accomplishment, on the part of a 
Galilean peasant, is a circumstance which must not 
be overlooked in estimating the value of his claims. 

Christ's supremacy as an interlocutor rests, apart 
from the proper arguments of the theologian, on the 
completeness of his mental views and the unequalled 
range of his moral sympathies and services. He met 
all cases of perplexity with a deeper answer, and all 
cases of distress with a wider generosity, than did any 



CHRIST AS AN INTERLOCUTOR. 215 

other man. Every idea he suggested was an instal- 
ment of the " all-truth " which the Spirit would re- 
veal ; and every gift he gave was an earnest of the 
gift of his body and his blood. Everything he said 
and did, looked, tended, pressed towards co7npleieness, 
— did so not merely as a matter of fact, but as a mat- 
ter of comparison ; and the comparison is so marked, 
even upon the face of the evidence, as to place him 
immeasurably in advance of all other speakers. In 
advance, for example, of " them of old time " who 
knew the letter, but not die spirit, of justice ; in ad- 
vance of Moses, who brought the Law, but could not 
bring " grace and truth;" as well as in advance of 
men who exalted the tradition of the elders above the 
commandment of God. Supremacy would be as- 
signed to any speaker who gave the deepest answers 
to questions which were being controverted ; this 
would be done in common deference to intellectual 
power, whatever points there might be in the religious 
creed of the speaker which his hearers could not 
accept. This would be done too, not in theological 
questions only, but in all other subjects ; the speaker's 
supremacy being determined, not by the mere fluency 
or keenness of his speech, but by its accuracy, its com- 
prehensiveness, its approach to the " all-truth." It 
may be fairly insisted that Jesus Christ should have 
the advantage which would be conceded on the com- 
mon ground of courteous justice. The man who 
would walk two miles excels in completeness the man 
who wo ild walk only one ; the man who would give 
his cloak as well as his coat, excels in completeness 



2l6 ECCE DEUS. 

the man who would give his coat only ; the man who 
would receive little children as well as adults, excels 
in completeness the man who would confine his atten- 
tion to the elder portions of society ; the man who 
would divide his last loaf with the hungering multi- 
tude, excels in completeness the man who would plead 
his poverty in mitigation of his selfishness ; the man 
who would work a miracle in order to pay the Tem- 
ple tribute, excels in completeness the man who would 
avail himself of a technical exemption from the im- 
post ; the man who would look approvingly upon a 
good work done by irregular workers, excels in com- 
pleteness the man who would subordinate life to for- 
mality ; the man who would forgive seventy times 
seven times, excels in completeness the man who 
would forgive seven times ; and, highest of all, and 
natural climax of all, the man who would die for his 
enemies excels in completeness the man who would 
die for his friends only. All the intermediate points 
have been tending towards the climacteric point — the 
Cross, which unites the completeness of love with the 
completeness of power* All these points of complete- 
ness may be distinctly claimed for Jesus Christ, on the 
same principles of criticism that would be applied to 
any character in any department of history, so that 
hesitation in ceding them might be fairly denomi- 
nated an immorality in criticism. Viewed in the 
light of the higher claims of the Christian writings, 
is there anything to account for this completeness — 
a completeness not only in the more formal sayings, 
but in the extemporaneous and casual utterances of 



CHRIST AS AN INTERLOCUTOR. 



217 



Jesus Christ? Whence hath this man this complete- 
ness? What if in him dwelt all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily? What if it pleased the Father that 
in him should all fulness dwell? And what if men 
receive out of his fulness grace for grace ? 

The last question turns the subject most practically 
upon the Church. The supremacy of the Church 
must be identical in claim with the supremacy of 
Jesus Christ. The Church can hold its position only 
so long as it can excel all rivals in the completeness 
of its answers to the great problems which engage the 
human mind. The measure of its completeness is the 
measure of its supremacy. If science and philosophy 
return completer answers than the Church, then the 
Church is a deposed power, and God has raised up 
the very stones as children unto Abraham^ The 
Church might have been first, but its title has, if such 
be the case, been foregone ; and now men come from 
the east and from the west, from the north and from 
the south ; and the children, who have lost all but 
their name, are shut out of the kingdom. The Church 
cannot maintain a merely traditionary supremacy 
against the competing forces which distinguish a 
scientific civilization. Its supremacy must be vital ; 
its resources must be " unsearchable riches." When 
Peter returned a complete answer, the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven were instantly promised to him ; 
but when, shortly after, he took an incomplete view 
of Christ's journey to Jerusalem, he was ordered be- 
hind as an " offence." So it will be with the Church ; 
she holds the keys only so long as she gives the com- 
10 



2l8 ECCE DEUS. 

plete answer ; when she fails in that, she is disinher- 
ited and degraded. The doctrine of eternal punish- 
ment is a ludicrous anti-climax to her superficial and 
mispronounced dogmas : how differently it comes after 
Christ's own teaching w r e shall now proceed to con- 
sider. 



219 



CHAPTER XV. 

ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 

IT is held by many to be a hard thing that any man 
should be damned for not believing " these sayings 
of mine." This conclusion must have been reached 
through a most incomplete apprehension of the term 
" belief." In the course of this argument, we have 
had repeated occasion to state that a man's belief is 
that by which his whole life is governed, — the foun- 
dation of his character, the very vitality of his man- 
hood. It can hardly be repeated too often, that belief 
is not a mere mental assent to a proposition, but the 
resting and consequent risking of the whole life upon 
the truth of that proposition. 

By setting aside, for the moment, the term "belief" 
on account of the narrow theological associations 
which have been unjustly gathered around it, the 
point may to some extent be elucidated by another 
word which has no such associations attaching to it, — 
that word is character. Now, as we have found our- 
selves at liberty, on the authority of Christ himself, to 
reason from the human towards the divine, let us in a 
familiar manner try what can be done by an analogi- 
cal process. Is there anything in the constitution of 
human society which will throw at least an edge of 
light around the awful mystery of endless punishment? 



220 ECCE DEUS. 

It will not be denied, at the outset, that there are 
many persons whom a virtuous man would not admit 
to his confidence or hospitality. Ask the reason, and 
the answer will be, " The persons have lost their 
good character, — they are dissipated, vicious, and 
altogether unworthy of respect or confidence." Here, 
then, is a point to begin at. It is conceded by this 
answer that purity of character is the indispensable 
qualification for admission into virtuous society, and 
by so much it is shown that a bad man is " damned," 
ostracized (or soften it into unrecognized), solely on 
the ground of vice. But what is vice ? Is it not the 
practical side of belief? The man believes in vice as 
a principle, or a policy, or an enjoyment, and there- 
fore he pursues it. But by pursuing it he becomes 
socially a condemned man ; he that believeth not (he 
that is not virtuous) is damned. It may be urged that 
a man may have many heterodox notions about religion, 
and yet his social repute may be irreproachable ; and on 
the other hand, that a man's notions about religion may 
be orthodox, while his life is sinful. This is true, but 
it merely throws us back upon a definition already laid 
down, viz., that belief is not intellectual, but moral : 
" with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; " 
so that religion is not a question of mere notions, but 
the expression of the entire spiritual life. It would be 
as logical to contend that a man is going a journey 
because he can explain the construction of an engine 
as to contend that a man is going to heaven because 
he can correctly answer theological questions. Salva- 
tion turns upon spiritual vitality, and spiritual vitality 
is represented by the right use of the term faith. It 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 231 



must never be absent from the mind that religion is 
not a set of opinions, but life in Jesus Christ. So far, 
then, we find society doing precisely what God does, 
viz., drawing a broad line of demarcation between the 
virtuous and the vicious, — in other words, establish- 
ing a system of rewards and punishments based ex- 
clusively 07t morals. Society has found this to be 
necessary to its own preservation and prosperity, for 
all history has gone to show that, apart from every 
theological system, the moral element has always de- 
termined the true value of civilization. Virtue has 
meant safety ; vice has meant danger. This is a fact 
of immense value in an inductive inquiry respecting 
rewards and punishments. 

It is now proposed to show that, in the matter of 
endless punishment for sin, society does, in its degree, 
precisely what Almighty God is declared in the Chris- 
tian writings to do. If God punishes the finally im- 
penitent forever, man does the same thing, and does 
it necessarily — necessarily because of the demands 
of the moral universe without, as well as the exactions 
of the moral principle within. In other words, the 
very constitution of the moral universe demands and 
necessitates the endless punishment of the impenitent. 
How we may work our way to this conclusion will 
now appear. 

It is objected that there is no proportion between 
time and eternity, and, consequently, that to punish 
man eternally for doing wrong in his short lifetime is 
inequitable. While it is not denied that punishment 
is merited, it is contended that there should be some 
proportion between the crime and the penalty. 



222 ECCE DEUS. 

In answer to this objection, let us examine the law 
of proportion in the light of social laws. Does the 
idea of proportion amount roughly to this, that a day's 
crime should be met by a day's punishment ; that a 
man who does wrong to-day should be punished to- 
morrow, and restored to confidence the day after? 
The objector will probably say, " No, not exactly that ; 
but say that a day's crime should be met by a month's 
punishment, or a year's ; only let there be some pro- 
portion between the crime and the penalty." The 
answer does not relieve the difficulty. What is the 
moral proportion between one day and a month, or 
one day and a year? Does nothing depend on the 
nature of the crime? For example: a man commits 
a petty larceny ; would the objector say that a month's 
imprisonment would be enough? Another man, say, 
commits murder ; would the objector say that a year's 
punishment would suffice? But why should the one 
criminal be punished a month and the other a year? 
It is urged that the nature of the crime determines 
that. Let this be granted ; then it will appear that 
the proportion is really not one of time, but of turpi- 
tude. In reality society proceeds upon the principle 
that the extent of time occupied in the perpetration 
of a criminal act is not to be taken into account in 
considering the punishment which is to be awarded. 
Nor ought it to be accounted of. Less time may be 
occupied in taking away a life than in committing a 
burglary ; but, on the principle of strict proportion 
(which sophistically proceeds on the idea of mere 
duration), the burglar should undergo a longer pun- 
ishment than the murderer. But society will not 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 223 

allow this ; its moral instincts overrule its sentimen- 
talities, and demand that the gravity of the crime 
should determine the gravity of the punishment. 

An illustration may be useful here. Thirty years 
ago, let it be supposed, a criminal forged the reader's 
name to a check for a thousand guineas. He did it 
in a few moments ; a stroke or two of the skilled pen, 
and the deed was done. The criminal never confessed 
the act ; never uttered a penitential word ; he suffered 
imprisonment for ten years ; and now for twenty years 
he has been at large. Has the reader forgiven him ? 
Has he restored him to confidence? Has he invited 
the offender into his family circle ? Has he replaced 
him at the commercial desk? The reader says, " No." 
But what becomes of the argument of proportion? 
Let it be remembered that the criminal was impris- 
oned ten years for a crime committed in less than ten 
minutes. Was not the punishment sufficient? Think 
of ten minutes being multiplied into ten years, and 
then say whether more can be reasonably demanded. 
But it may be urged that the criminal is impenitent ; 
he never owns his sin, never asks forgiveness, and 
treats the injured man as if he himself had been 
injured. The injured man is so far philanthropic as 
to say that he will meet the criminal on the first sign 
of contrition — he only waits an acknowledgment of 
the guilt and promise of better behavior. Nothing 
can be more humane, — nothing more reasonable ; 
and the point to be specially remarked is, that this is 
the very principle upon which the divine government 
in relation to sin proceeds : " If we confess our sins, 
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Man's 



224 ECCE DEUS. 

own heart being witness, he proceeds upon the very 
principle of adjudication which he condemns in the 
government of God. 

The sum of the answer is this : if a criminal con- 
tinue to be impenitent respecting any crime, he is as 
guilty of that crime on the last day of his life as he 
was in the very hour of its committal, though he may 
have survived that hour fifty years. Time has no miti- 
gating influence upon guilt. The question between 
the criminal and society is not one of time, but of 
penitence, and, so long as he is impenitent, society 
must, by a compulsion deeper than all formal law, 
mark and avoid him. Society does this. If particular 
members of society do not do so, they are immoral — 
connivance w T ith unrepented guilt being an affront to 
the spirit of virtue. Society punishes (more or less 
lightly, more or less directly) all impenitent offenders 
against its laws, and punishes them throughout their 
whole lifetime, which is as much of eternity as its 
retributive influence can encompass. In very grave 
cases, indeed, society will not allow the penal shadow 
to pass from the reputation even after death ; so truly 
is this the case that there are names which cannot now 
be pronounced, though they represent long extinct 
lives, without bringing a frown upon the countenances 
of all who hear them. Is this eternal punishment, or 
is it not? 

The question of proportion may be looked at in 
another light. A citizen who has maintained a good 
reputation for half a century as a pure, upright, noble 
man ; who has figured on subscription lists as a gen- 
erous benefactor of the poor ; whose name obtained 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 225 

the highest credit on the Exchange, — has been proved 
guilty of a crime : the crime was being perpetrated in 
imagined secrecy ; the criminal had no idea that any 
eye was upon him ; the fact, however, becomes known ; 
and the question is, how does society treat the tower 
which was fifty years in building? Society razes the 
very foundations, and forgets half a century of un- 
challenged life in one day's discovered villany. But 
where is the law of proportion ? Why not deduct one 
day from the fifty years' reputation, or regard the crime 
but as a spot on the disk of a brilliant life ? The law 
of proportion founded on mere duration would, if 
strictly interpreted, require this deduction ; but society 
happily forgets its formal logic when under the influ- 
ence of high moral inspiration, and in its own arbitra- 
ments reproduces the government of God. 

The argument of proportion as to time is obviously 
fallacious. No crime is self-contained. All actions 
are influential. What is done in an hour may affect 
society through many generations. Long after the 
pebble is at the bottom of the lake, the circles multiply 
and expand on the surface. The lifting of a hand 
sends a vibration to the stars. 

A second objection will afford an opportunity of 
still further exposing the fallacy of the argument of 
proportion. It has been urged that, as virtue is its 
own reward, and vice its own punishment, the crimi- 
nal is sufficiently punished while upon earth, and need 
not, therefore, have hell superadded. The argument, 
if valid in relation to hell, is equally valid in relation 
to heaven ; hence, as virtue is its own reward, the 
virtuous man is sufficiently rewarded on earth, and 
10* 



226 EGCE DEUS. 

needs not a superadded heaven. By parity of reason- 
ing this latter position is impregnable. The logic 
which closes hell annihilates heaven. Without, how- 
ever, pressing the sophist too severely to accept the 
results of his premises, the whole answer may be in- 
cluded in one fundamental and fully-illustrated prin- 
ciple — viz., that punishment is not regenerative. 
All penalty is negative. It may appease the more 
public demands of society without making any good 
impression on the moral nature of the criminal. Take 
an instance : a felon who has undergone a term of 
imprisonment may leave the prison as great a criminal 
as he entered it. The mere fact of having been in 
jail for a series of months or years does not make 
the criminal an honest man. The law could touch 
his body only ; so that at the very moment of his 
keenest smarting under the penal rod he might be 
plotting deeper schemes of crime. Punishment per 
se is not a regenerator. Hell itself, if intermediate 
instead of final, could not convert men to Christianity. 
It might terrify them ; it might impose strong re- 
straints upon them, originating in the lowest and most 
uncertain motives ; but, as to regeneration, it might 
be as impotent as a passing storm. Virtue founded 
on fear is only vice in a fit of dejection. 

Does not the objector himself proceed upon the 
principle that punishment is not regenerative? 
Imagine the objector seated in a public vehicle. He 
is holding pleasant intercourse with a fellow-traveller ; 
he likes the man, is pleased with his intelligence, 
frankness, and civility : at one point of the journey, 
however, he is given to understand that his interlocutor 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 



227 



is a ticket-of-leave man ; does he during the remainder 
of the journey feel as comfortable as he did at the 
beginning? Does he, or does he not, involuntarily 
lay his hand upon his property? Is there, or is there 
not, a development of suspicion? But why: The 
criminal has, indeed, broken the laws of his country, 
but he has suffered the legal penalty, or escaped 21 
portion of it by his creditable conduct ; why, then, 
should not the objector invite the well-behaved con- 
vict home, and introduce him to the confidence of 
his sons and daughters ? Why should the convict be 
punished forever? Where is the proportion between 
a day's crime and life-long infamy? The objector's 
philosophy succumbs to his moral instincts. He be- 
gins to think of contamination, and mentally to run 
over all the possibilities of his having had something 
like friendly intercourse with a returned convict. Yet 
he would have God's infinite holiness do what his own 
faded morality cannot do. He would have the sun 
overlook defects which his own rushlight brings into 
startling prominence. He fails to see that the case 
appeals not to benevolence, not to philosophy, but 
strictly to the moral sense ; and if man, whose moral 
faculty is so liable to perversion, recoils from the idea 
of confiding in an impenitent convict, how can God 
look with complaisance on an unclean heart? Does 
the objector say that, if he knew the returned convict 
to be a truly penitent man, he would give him another 
chance in life? Then let him recall the words just 
quoted — " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins." 
The objector seems forgetful of the fact, that the 



228 ECCE DEUS. 

doctrine of vice being its own punishment is neces- 
sarily overridden in all the penal arrangements of 
society, otherwise society would be insecurely guarded 
against outrage. If vice be its own punishment (not 
only individually, but socially, in a full degree), why 
should the thief be imprisoned or the murderer exe- 
cuted? Wrry not leave each to the tormenting remorse 
of his own conscience ? Why not be satisfied with the 
scorpion sting of memory? The fact is, that there is 
a practical sophism in the doctrine that vice is its own 
punishment in an imperfect state of society. By repe- 
tition of crime conscience is hardened, so that actually 
he who has done most is punished least. The young 
thief, trembling in inexperience, hesitates as he ap- 
proaches the lock at midnight, but the veteran burglar 
is as steady in darkness as at noonday. The criminal, 
therefore, would have merely to repeat his crimes to 
escape their punishment ; for he who now blushes in 
anger may one day be calm in murder ! Vice is its 
own punishment only when all alleviating circum- 
stances are removed, as will be the case in the next 
world. There nature will be so quickened, and so 
thoroughly thrown back upon itself, that vice will in 
the fullest sense of the term be its own tormentor ; but, 
as earthly society is now constituted, there would be so 
many counterbalancing influences brought to bear upon 
the criminal that his reflections might be modified or 
entirely overpowered. The same principle has its 
obvious bearings on the doctrine that virtue is its own 
reward. 

A third objection urges that God should issue a 
universal amnesty, — open every prison door in the 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 229 

universe, — say to devils, M You are forgiven," and to 
lost men, " Be free." This would be considered so 
magnanimous as to be worthy of God. The objection 
is not without plausibility. Two things, however, 
appear to be forgotten, (i) That an amnesty could 
not, in itself, work any moral change. Look at the 
case from a national point of view. Suppose that the 
monarch were to proclaim a universal amnesty : would 
the thief, the murderer, the incendiary, or any other 
criminal, be thereby constituted a virtuous member of 
society ? Such an amnesty, instead of being a bless- 
ing, would be a curse ; liberty would degenerate into 
licentiousness. If the insane idea of a universal am- 
nesty were seriously proposed, all virtuous men would 
protest against throwing back the flood-gates and lib- 
erating torrents of crime. What, then, would God's 
amnesty do ? Would a demon be less a demon on one 
side of a prison door than on another? Does the door 
make the demon ? The second thing that is forgotten 
by the objector is, (2) That forgiveness requires the 
consent of two parties. The term " forgiveness " is 
often used with a most inadequate conception of its 
meaning. An enemy cannot by any act of so-called 
forgiveness be turned into a friend. The philanthropic 
man may even love his enemies, bless them that curse 
him, and pray for them that despitefully use him and 
persecute him, and yet not forgive them in the right 
sense of that term. The man may excuse an offence 
against himself, but he has no power to excuse an 
offence against righteousness ; that is to say, he may 
rise superior to the mere personal consideration, and 
no doubt will do so ; but, if he trifle with the demands 



23O ECCE DEUS. 

of morality, which alone can make personal considera- 
tions of any consequence, his so-called forgiveness is a 
sin, and his supposed magnanimity is a violation of 
God's prerogative. It comes to this, then, that even 
God himself cannot forgive a sinner apart from certain 
conditions, which the sinner himself must supply. Is 
it (if the supposition maybe allowed) anything merely 
personal which God condemns in the action of the 
sinner against himself? Can the sinner do God any 
harm? Can the mightiest chief in all the armies of 
hell pluck one star from the sky, or keep back the light 
of the sun, or bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, 
or loose the bands of Orion ? God is not, so to speak, 
alarmed for his personal government. The offences 
against his power cost him no concern, but the offences 
against his holiness afflict him with great sorrow 
The parent cares nothing for the mere blow of the 
child's tiny fist, but the passion w r hich prompted it 
breaks his heart. God has to maintain the public 
virtue and order of the universe. He fears no stroke 
of power ; but if, for mere convenience of expression, 
we may distinguish between his personality and his 
attributes, w r e may say that offences against his person 
are forgiven, but offences against his attributes cannot 
be forgiven apart from confession and repentance on 
the side of the criminal. 

It has been suggested that annihilation would better 
harmonize with the divine attributes than the infliction 
of eternal misery. This, however, is a sentiment 
rather than an argument. God does not inflict the 
eternal misery ; he simply points it out as the resultant 
of certain courses. Men often complain as if the 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 23 1 

misery were superimposed by God : it is not ; it comes 
out of the man, not from God. God says to his moral 
creatures, " You are immortal: right means immortal 
glory : wrong means immortal infamy." In this rep- 
resentation on the part of God there is nothing arbi- 
trary — it simply points out the inevitable operation of 
cause and effect. When a parent warns a child to 
beware of the fire, he does so in love, not in anger : 
he does not inflict the pain of burning ; he merely 
points out that such pain will be the result of diso- 
bedience. So with God : he does not inflict the pun- 
ishment ; the punishment is the effect of a cause. It 
is easy to pronounce the word annihilation, but has 
its meaning been fully considered ? There need not be 
any hesitation in reverently declaring that God cannot 
annihilate a moral agent. If he could, would he not 
have annihilated the devil that vexed his beloved Son in 
the wilderness ? So far as we can gather from the sacred 
writings, what has been the attitude of God in relation 
to the devil? He has degraded his position in the 
universe ; he has taken away the lustrous robe with 
which he was originally clothed ; he has caused him 
to wither into the most awful and repulsive deformity ; 
on every side the most tremendous pressure has been 
brought to bear upon him ; but no force can touch the 
life; diabolism is nothing but abused divinity, and can 
God be annihilated? All moral creatures are such by 
virtue of a divine element in their nature. But cannot 
God withdraw that divine element? Let us pause. 
What would he make of it after he had withdrawn it? 
Could he absorb the poisoned element which for a life- 
time had been given up to the devil? 



232 ECCE DEUS. 

It must not be forgotten that there is a broad dis« 
tinction between a penalty and a consequence, as those 
terms are commonly understood. When Christ said, 
" He that believeth not shall be damned," he announced 
a consequence, he did not threaten a penalty in the 
usual acceptation of the term. A consequence is the 
direct and inevitable result of certain processes, par- 
taking of their very nature, and inseparable from 
them ; but a penalty may possibly be something dif- 
ferent, something arbitrarily superadded, regardless of 
adaptation or measure. Being chilled is a consequence 
of exposure to cold air ; but being flogged for such 
exposure is a penalty. Eternal punishment is the con- 
sequence of rejecting the Gospel, not a penalty (in the 
low sense of revenge) attached to a crime. 

In the Phaedo, and also in the Gorgias, we find a 
theory which seems to meet some of the difficulties, 
but which in reality meets some at the expense of 
others. It appears, according to the Platonic dream, 
that persons who have passed through life without 
bringing any special disgrace upon themselves suffer 
for their evil deeds, and are then rewarded for their 
good works. On the other hand, those who are in- 
curable are cast into Tartarus, where they remain 
forever. The class lying between receive different 
treatment. In the first instance, they are cast into 
Tartarus ; but, after remaining there a year, they are 
cast forth, the homicides into Cocytus, the parricides 
and matricides into Pyriphlegethon. With a most 
singular accuracy, the very principle of confession 
being the basis of pardon, and the consent of two 
parties being required in order to an act of complete 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 233 

forgiveness, it is declared in the Phasdo, that when the 
members of this intermediate class are borne along to 
the Acherusian lake, they invoke those whom they 
murdered or injured ; and, if the aggrieved parties 
relent, the sufferers are permitted to go out into the 
lake, and thus to escape further suffering ; but, if the 
aggrieved parties do not relent, the sufferers are re- 
manded to Tartarus. The same doctrine is taught in 
the Gorgias. Rhadamanthus examines the souls, with- 
out knowing anything of their identity, and according 
to their nature he dismisses them either to Tartarus or 
to the isles of the blessed. The points common to the 
Platonic and Evangelic theories are (1) that there are 
two conditions after death, and (2) that eternal pun- 
ishment is the consequence of unpardoned guilt. In 
the " beautiful fable " related by Socrates in the Phaedo, 
we have the principle of a purgatory affirmed ; that is 
to say, some sinners are punished for a time and then 
sent forward to everlasting rewards. The Christian 
doctrine is opposed to this ; it knows nothing of inter- 
mediate distinctions ; its classification is dual ; in 
referring to destiny, it recognizes two terms only, — 
heaven and hell. 

The moral effect is higher than that of the Socratic 
fable. No license is given to the criminal ; no un- 
certainty beclouds the anticipations of the good man. 
Virtue is recognized as a principle, not judged by 
deceptive shades. Socrates, in concluding his fable, 
well said that it would not become any man of sense 
to affirm positively that the things were exactly as the 
fabulist had pictured them. But Christ makes no 
such reservations ; he speaks with the authority of one 



234 ECCE DEUS. 

before whose eyes all things stood in the clearest 
light : it is a revealer, not an inquirer, who sees that 
the bad man cannot rise and the good man cannot fall 
in the day of judgment. Why be startled by the 
announcement that the bad man shall " go away into 
everlasting punishment"? Society has actually af- 
firmed the principle in its own penal arrangements ; 
why, then, be shocked at its own moral instincts? 
The shock is occasioned by the word "eternal" rather 
than the word " punishment ; " yet why so ? If re- 
morse can be endured at all, why not forever? 
Beings can suffer only according to their capacity. 
The suffering will be mental, not physical, — an 
eternal self-reproach for having given God the lie. 

This gives us a view of the redemptive work of 
Christ which could not have been otherwise obtained. 
It presents, too, an impressive aspect of human digni- 
ty. To save man from such consequences, Christ 
undertook the work of mediation, —-would Christ 
have died to save an insect which could be crushed 
into nothingness? According to the Christian writ- 
ings, man stands in a salvable relation to Christ's 
work only during his continuance on earth ; through- 
out the whole of that period he is importuned by the 
most earnest persuasions to avail himself of the 
benefits of Christ's mediation ; and if, in defiance 
of all such importunity, he determinedly persists in 
a criminal course, how can he possibly escape the 
effects of that course? The question is, how can he? 
If punishment is not regenerative ; if selfish fear is not 
a moral agent ; if a moral creature cannot be an- 
nihilated; — then how can the criminal cheat God, 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 235 

and find a way into heaven? Is it suggested that a 
second probation might meet the case? A second 
probation is an impossibility ; but even assuming the 
possibility, where would be the equity? Give men 
to know that there would be a second probation, and 
how many of them would care for the first? And if 
they neglect the first, they are so much weaker in 
moral nerve to encounter the discipline of the second. 
And if there should be two probations, why not 
three ? 

" But say I could repent, and could obtain 
By act of grace my former state ; how soon 
Would height recall high thoughts, how soon unsay 
What feigned submission swore ! ease would recant 
Vows made in pain, as violent and void." 

How do men regard this probationary idea as it 
comes up in the concerns of daily life? There is one 
seed-time in the year ; an indolent farmer neglects it, 
and then sets up the theory that to have only an 
annual seed-time is ridiculous ! When poverty comes 
as " an armed man," does society pity or reproach 
him? It may be suggested that possibly the suffer- 
ings might have a good effect upon the lost ; it might 
cause them to reflect ; it might bring them to repent- 
ance. It is forgotten, however, that everything has 
been done for them which even God could do : they 
have resisted the whole system of redeeming love ; 
thrust away the bleeding and dying Christ ; and, if 
mere suffering will save any man, God has made 
a stupendous mistake in sending his Son to save 
sinners. Hell would then be more successful than 
the Son of God. 



236 ECCE DEUS. 

In the most appalling of his parables Christ repre- 
sents a rich man as lifting up his eyes in hell, being in 
torment. Parables are not always to be pressed into 
literal evidence, but this parable is absolutely point- 
less if it does not teach (1) that there is a hell, and 
(2) that those who are in hell are conscious of their 
position. This parable contains an incidental con- 
firmation of Christ's picture of the judgment. The 
rich man neglected Lazarus, — that is the principal 
fact we know respecting his outside relations : the 
next thing heard of him is, that he is " in hell." So 
in the judgment the goats go away into everlasting 
punishment because they have neglected the hungry, 
the thirsty, and the sick, — that is positively the only 
charge brought against them. But what are the 
terms of the preaching commission? Not he that 
is philanthropic, but — " He that believeth shall be 
saved." Are the terms, then, altered? The altera- 
tion is nominal, not essential. No man can believe 
without being a philanthropist ; no man can be a 
philanthropist without believing, — that is, without 
going out of himself, resting on something better than 
the pivot of individualism. Philanthropy is the man- 
ward aspect of faith in Christ. " Pure religion and 
undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit 
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to 
keep himself unspotted from the world." The basis 
of arbitrament, then, is not changed, but an enlarged 
conception of faith is given, and by so much is dis- 
closed a fuller view of the enormity which brings upon 
itself " everlasting punishment ; " for it appears by this 
definition of faith (a point often overlooked in the dis- 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 2tf 

cussion of the subject), that the criminal outrages alike 
theology and humanity, — God and man. Those who 
" go away into everlasting punishment " are expressly 
said to have neglected their fellow-creatures ; they 
are condemned on human grounds, — not because 
they had an heretical creed, but because they had no 
love towards man, — " and if a man love not his 
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
whom he hath not seen? " Misanthropy alone neces- 
sitates hell. 

So much for an outline of argument. We are not 
unaware of the pleadings of mere sentiment. All 
good men would unite in the expression of generous 
hopes were they at liberty to deal with the sentimental- 
ism of the subject ; but, as all the arrangements of 
society show, the moral instincts of the world protest 
against a forgiveness of the criminal apart from suf- 
fering and contrition. If temporary punishment in 
hell will bring men to God, why send Jesus Christ to 
die a sacrificial death, or any death at all ? Why not 
put all men into hell at once, and save by fear those 
who refuse to be saved by love? Is it because we 
have pleasure in contemplating the suffering of crimi- 
nals that we have spoken thus urgently of future 
punishments ? We know that we subject ourselves to 
such a taunt ; it may be, however, that a frank state- 
ment on the affirmative side of the question may be 
conceived in a more delicate and tremulous tender- 
ness than the utterance of vapid generalities of hope. 
We are bound to point out that nowhere in the 
sacred waitings is hell referred to as exerting a 
remedial influence on the criminal ; if it does exert 



238 ECCE DEUS. 

such an influence, it was an inexcusable oversight not 
to dwell upon the fact specifically. On the other 
hand, it is distinctly taught by Jesus Christ, that, if 
men will not avail themselves of such moral advan- 
tages as are at their disposal, they would not " be 
persuaded though one rose from the dead." Men 
are apt to think that something which has not been 
tried, specially something startling and sensational, 
would succeed in saving the obstinate. Are they 
wiser than God, or tenderer than Christ? Others, 
again, refer to the heathen, and to those within our 
own civilization w T ho have never heard the Gospel, 
and they ask, "Are such to be eternally punished ? " 
This horror is uninformed and unreasoning. No man 
will be condemned for not believing what he never 
heard. It is the man -who believeth not that is to be 
condemned, and the very terms imply that the case 
has been laid before him. As for others, they are in 
the hands of God, and will be adjudged righteously. 
"It is better to fall into the hands of God than into 
the hands of men." Why preach the Gospel at all 
then? some may say. The answer is, (1) Christ com- 
manded it to be preached, and (2) the very nature of 
the Gospel demands proclamation ; the truth will not 
be silent. The appeal which most concerns us is 
addressed immediately to those who have heard the 
Gospel, seen Christ in his word and works, and had 
an opportunity of accepting eternal life. If men have 
insulted God, poured contempt upon his Son, counted 
the blood of the covenant as an unworthy thing, grieved 
and quenched the Holy Spirit, what can possibly 
remain of a remedial kind? The inquiry is one on 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 239 

which reason may expend its powers. What remains 
after God has been exhausted? Those who plead 
against eternal punishment often talk as though no 
mercy had been shown to the sinner ; as if mercy were 
an orb reserved to shine upon the uttermost darkness 
to show the way to heaven. Such a suggestion is a 
grave reflection upon the plan of salvation ; it plainly, 
though indirectly, charges that plan with incomplete- 
ness, and violently enlarges the period of human pro- 
bation. As if God's mercy were less than man's pity ! 
We attempt not to read the unpublished decrees of 
God ; in our present sphere, with our present means 
of judging, reason itself binds us to accept the con- 
clusions of consciousness and revelation in preference 
to the plausibilities of mere sentiment. 



240 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 

THE Cross is the culmination of the mystery. It 
is now proposed to view it not so much in its 
place in systematic theology as in its relation to Christ's 
personal history. Pilate's superscription is easily read, 
but there is another writing more difficult of interpre- 
tation. The one word which we have succeeded in 
deciphering is love, and we have ventured on the not 
improbable inference that such a word must have kin- 
dred words around it. 

The death, and its attendant circumstances, was not 
an unexpected event to Jesus Christ, — it was preceded 
by many demonstrations of ill-regulated excitement on 
the part of the people, plainly showing unsteadiness 
of aim on their side ; but the heart of Jesus Christ was 
fixed by a great design. He had been living the kind 
of life which, viewed from the outside, seemed inevita- 
bly to lead to a violent death ; yet his control of the 
element of time in the completion of his purposes is 
most significant. The baffled revolutionist, whose 
schemes have overweighted his resources, has no power 
over the apportionment of his time ; but Jesus Christ 
spoke of his " hour" with the precision and calmness 
of conscious mastery. It seemed as though he would 
not allow history to be made immaturely, — as if there 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 241 

was a law by which events come to a crisis, and which 
could not be accelerated by the wildest impatience or 
the most violent determination. Early in public life 
he began to talk of his " hour ; " repeatedly he said 
that his hour was " not yet ; " and not until he offered 
his intercessory prayer, which escaped from his break- 
ing heart like a long sigh of sorrowing love, did he 
plainly say, " The hour is come." There were two 
forces in operation ; the force of a malign intent on the 
part of the Jews, and the force of a control which 
times all events to a moment. Passions cannot hasten 
the time of heaven. Every hour has its work, and 
every work its hour. There was no reader of the 
signs of the times so quick and so correct as Jesus 
Christ. He saw the fields " white unto the harvest " 
sooner than his nearest followers did ; and while super- 
ficial men were reading the skies he chided them for 
dulness in reading the more important tokens of the 
world's condition. All this is in harmony with his 
anticipation of his " hour." He knew the laws which 
regulate the tides ; he was not misled by the foam with 
which the winds bespattered him ; he knew that not 
the winds but the worlds touch the tidal springs. He 
foresaw the last swell of the great deep, and encoun- 
tered it in an attitude of prayer. 

This anticipation of his "hour" is noticeable as a 
side-illustration of the purpose which ran through the 
life of Jesus Christ. The cross was not ;<m accident. 
The cross was not an after-thought ; its shadow came 
up from eternity, and was first visible to men in the 
manger of Bethlehem. The most cursory view of the 
powers which he wielded during his life is sufficient 
11 



242 ECCE DEUS. 

to show that Jesus Christ was perfectly iible to repel 
the ruffians who undertook to compass his death. He 
was no weakened Samson who had given up the secret 
of his power ; he was still the wonderful man whom 
the winds and the sea obeyed ; yet he consented to be 
led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before 
her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 
He had been accustomed to the idea from before the 
foundation of the world. Even in his earthly course 
he was never separated from the cross ; it varied in 
form, never in nature ; it was only less prominent, not 
less real, at Bethlehem than at Calvary. The cross 
was never dissociated from the life ; he brought it with 
him ; he carried it in his heart long before the mob 
laid it on his shoulder, and had suffered all its agonies 
before the nail was driven into his flesh. But the 
gross-minded world could never have known this apart 
from the sight ; it measures the sorrow of the soul by 
the suffering of the flesh ; it weighs the tears that it 
may know the weight of the woe, as if all woes could 
make their way through the eyes. The giving up of 
the flesh was nothing ; external force could have over- 
come any mere bodily resistance ; the concurrence of 
the spirit was essential to the value of the offering in 
the sight of God. The poverty which is caused by 
irresistible forces is one thing, the poverty which comes 
of self-sacrifice for the good of others is another. 

The cross means love, but what does love mean? 
Can lexicography explain that word? We must go 
back to the life for hints of interpretation. Jesus Christ 
is the answer as well as the enigma. In no case did 
Jesus Christ work for himself. He only received that 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 243 

he might give ; he only asked that he might distribute. 
As he did not live for himself, so he did not die for 
himself. That melancholy cross must bear other stains 
than those of murder ; he who might have turned it 
into a throne, and waved from it the sceptre of the 
world's dominion, must have had some object in view 
worthy of the generous life which preceded it. The 
course of beneficence would not be broken off just be- 
fore the end. Jesus Christ will be consistent through- 
out ; for you, not for me, will be his watchword to the 
end. How can a good man make death give the lie 
to his life ? 

The method, too, of leaving the world is consistent 
with his method of living in the world. The cross is 
a wonderful counterpart of the manger. There were 
no violent discrepancies in the life ; only once, and 
that on the top of a mountain, did the Godhead visibly 
burn in the poor shrine of his flesh, — a sight which 
Moses had seen prefigured at Horeb. From beginning 
to end there was one line of humiliation. The child 
of the manger is the man of the cross ; the youth who 
was about his Father's business in the Temple was do- 
ing his Father's will on Calvary. There were other 
plans of leaving the world than that of crucifixion. 
Why not go up into the skies at midday, amid a great 
lustre, welcomed by the voices of angels, and the peal 
of trumpets? Why not make a great demonstration 
of power rather than a saddening spectacle of weak- 
ness? Think of what might have been done! Yet 
he was numbered with the transgressors ; his name 
was pronounced as a felon's ; and even they who knew 
him best left him as if he had wronged their souls. 



244 



ECCE DEUS. 



The very method of departure is fraught with deep 
significance. The suffering itself must have had a 
meaning. When he could have taken the wings of 
the morning, or called around him the angels that ex- 
cel in strength, or gone up from Calvary as he ascended 
from Olivet, and yet became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross, the very manner of the dying 
must have interpretations which separate it from all 
other deaths. 

Now, we may approach the cross without any light 
except that of natural reason, or we may avail our- 
selves of the suggestions of the sacred writings. Be- 
fore we attempt to interpret, let us come to some 
understanding as to canons and standards. With re- 
gard, first of all, to natural reason, it may be enough 
to remind ourselves that the whole history of Jesus 
Christ removes itself as far as possible from the court 
in which natural reason presides. We have had occa- 
sion to point this out incidentally in former chapters ; 
let us now stand and calmly look at it as a fact likely 
to help our further inquiries. Is there any point in 
the whole development of Christ's person and ministry 
at which we can say, '-''This is just as we thought it 
would &e"? Or is there not everywhere something 
like a studied upsetting of foregone conclusions and 
logically-arranged anticipations ? Given a world that 
has lost its moral standing, to know how God would 
recover it ; and we venture to say that the New Testa- 
ment answer would never suggest itself to natural reason. 
That answer, then, stands by so much at a disadvan- 
tage ; the whole stress of reason is against it ; it has 
every inch of ground to make for itself, for reason will 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 245 

not allow it so much as a foothold. Reason, on being 
pressed for an answer, would probably betake itself to 
elaborate demonstration ; its customary notions of the 
proportions which means should bear to ends would 
force it to set up a most imposing breastwork of su- 
perhuman appearances and interpositions. Probably 
some such plan as this would be accounted reason- 
able : — The world having lost its moral standing, 
God himself, in undisguised personality, must speak 
to it from the heavens with a voice of awful power ; 
the guilty world must see him robed with fire, crowned 
with a diadem in which a thousand suns flash their 
commingling glories, and encircled by unnumbered 
squadrons of the seraphim; all men must hear him 
lamenting the apostasy, and offering instantaneous and 
universal pardon ; the great Deceiver must be publicly 
destroyed, and his track obliterated from the face of 
the earth ; and, to prevent the possibility of further 
falling, the whole family of man must be translated to 
heaven. — This would suit the reason that is fond of 
demonstrativeness. Other forms might be suggested 
that would suit the reason that is prone to philosophi- 
cal speculation. But among them all the New Testa- 
ment idea would never come up. Pain, sorrow, humil- 
iation, death, resurrection, stand off beyond the reach of 
natural reason. It is not saying too much to say that 
such a process is offensive ; it is foolishness ; it is a 
stumbling-block. What we have to suggest is this: 
that by so much as the Gospel method is removed from 
the probabilities which natural reason would affirm* 
it is unlikely that natural reason conceived it. That 
method is not merely here and there contrary to expec- 



2|6 ECCE DEUS. 

tation, but throughout, from end to end, there is not 
a solitary point which satisfies natural reason. Was 
ever reason so unreasoning? Did reason ever so far 
exceed the limit of probability? A partial excess 
might have been understood, an occasional obscurity 
might have been accounted for ; but the mystery is 
unbroken, the lamp of reason nowhere touches the 
great darkness. Instead of foreclosing the inquiry, 
this should quicken reverent investigation. Original- 
ity is not madness. What if God should be greater 
than man has thought him to be ? What if the Infinite 
cannot be measured by the finite? We are thrown 
back upon analogous inquiry respecting God — his 
universe is around us; how does he work in that? 
History is at hand ; how has he mingled with men ? 
Man's own personality is a witness. How has God 
created it, individualized it, kept it from absorption in 
the boundless ocean of contemporaneous life ? Is God 
easily understood everywhere but at the cross ? Is he 
a common riddle which any child can guess? Or is 
he still an unsolved problem — the problem of all 
problems ? Is he an exhausted theme ; or does he 
enlarge before our reverent and wondering vision? 
These collateral inquiries may help to set reason in its 
proper attitude before the cross. The sight which 
Moses saw at Horeb may be reversed at Calvary ; 
Moses saw the God of Abraham in the God of nature 
— what if we see the God of nature in the God of 
Abraham? Nature itself offers a thousand perplex- 
ities to reason ; out of the whirlwind God has rebuked 
the complaining and dissatisfied Jobs of the race : 
" Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 247 

earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. . . . Hast 
thou commanded the morning since thy days, and 
caused the dayspring to know his place? . . . Hast 
thou entered into the springs of the sea ; or hast thou 
walked in the search of the depth? . . . Gavest thou 
the goodly wings unto the peacocks ; or wings and 
feathers unto the ostrich ? " With a peremptory voice 
God thus shuts out human wisdom and power from 
nature ; what wonder if the same voice should chide 
self-sufficiency when it pronounces on " the mystery 
of godliness " ? As the very impossibility of man 
making any one thing in nature is regarded as a 
proof of God's power, why should the utter impos- 
sibility of man conceiving the New Testament idea of 
salvation not be regarded as a proof of God's wisdom? 
There is a point at which reason leaves nature, unable 
to make further way ; it does not consequently deny 
the universe : why not treat with the same trust the 
greater mystery of which the most mysterious nature 
is but the background? 

The Scriptures are not silent respecting the meaning 
of the cross. If we credit the Scriptures as to the fact 
of the cross, why doubt them as to its meaning? Do 
they tell the truth in history, and tell lies in doctrine? 
We put it thus frankly, because, if the professedly 
divine word is modified, he who modifies it must be 
wiser than God, or it bears itself a forged signature. 
What, then, do the Scriptures say respecting the cross? 
To the inquiry, Why was Jesus Christ given up ? they 
answer : " He was delivered for our offences. " To 
the inquiry, Why did he suffer? they reply : " Christ 
hath once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, 



248 ECCE DEU3. 

that he might bring us to God." We inquire for what 
purpose he suffered, and they answer : " He gave 
himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from 
this present evil world, according to the will of God 
and our Father." If we ask what practical effect the 
offering of Jesus Christ should have upon us, the 
Scriptures reply : " Who his own self bare our sins 
in his body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, 
should live unto righteousness." When we ask, Did 
he die for himself or for others? we are told, with the 
utmost precision, that " Christ died for the ungodly." 
This is the testimony of Scripture. We get the doc- 
trine where we get the fact. Can we obtain better 
answers elsewhere? The responsibility of rejection 
lies with the reader. It is easier to blow out a light 
than to create one. Here is a great historic event 
which is to be explained; we may exercise the spec- 
ulative faculty in balancing guess after guess, or accept 
the testimony which is avowedly of God. Let us see 
in which direction this testimony goes. 

The Scriptures declare plainly that the cross stands 
in direct relation to sin. Sin necessitated a condition 
which love alone could meet. Holiness never caused 
death. All that comes within what may be called the 
sphere of death (pain, misery, disappointment, tears) 
is due immediately to moral decay. Throughout the 
Scriptures this principle is constantly affirmed, but 
nowhere is it seen in full force of demonstration but 
on the cross. It could not have been a trifle which 
started the great drops of blood from the body of 
Jesus Christ in Gethsemane, or that caused him his 
exceeding sorrow on the tree. Great natures cannot 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 249 

weep blood but on great occasions. There must, then, 
have been something terrible about this moral putres- 
cence which is called sin. It was no speck on the 
surface ; it was poison in the blood. The tones heard 
at Golgotha are not the harsh tones of vengeance ; 
there is no scream of fury ; no thunder of cursing : 
there is a wail of sorrow, deep, loud, long, as if the 
very heart of God had broken. It is the agony of 
love ; it is the paroxysm of a lacerated and dying 
spirit. It was love that had failed in life, determined 
to succeed in death. It was dying innocence strug- 
gling with dead guilt. And does not every man repeat 
in his low degree the same great tragedy? Can any 
man forgive without suffering? Can a man take back 
even his own wicked son without first stretching his 
fatherly heart on the cross? When a father sheds 
tears over his rebellious child he carries his anger to 
the sublimest point. God's hatred of sin is best seen, 
not in his frowns, but in his tears. Hell does not af- 
ford the most impressive view of God's estimate of 
sin. When Christ said, u My soul is exceeding sor- 
rowful, even unto death," he did more to show the 
horror in which he held sin than could have been 
shown in all the fire that glows and blazes through- 
out the universe. We best know the intensity of hu- 
man anger when it settles into deep human sorrow ; 
so we see God's hatred of sin more in the storm of 
grief which Christ endured than if the angry heavens 
had shot lightning into every point of space. God 
suffered more than the sinner can ever suffer on ac- 
count of sin. Does not the parent suffer more than 
the sinning child? The sinner by his very sinfulness 
11 * 



350 ECCE DEUS. 

lessens his own capacity of suffering, while virtue is 
shocked through every sensibility. 

What, then, was the relation of the cross to sin? 
It meant more than condemnation. The mere con- 
demnation of sin was not worth all this expenditure 
of the finest fibre of life. The thunder or the whirl- 
wind might have sufficed for anathema, had that been 
all that the case required. There was, how r ever, not 
only a curse to pronounce, but a blessing to offer ; — 
not only was the devouring beast that had committed 
such havoc in the flock of God to be destroyed, but 
that flock was to be protected, saved ! This could not 
be done by mere power. The hand of the Lord is 
omnipotent, but omnipotence can work upon the heart 
only with the heart's consent. We say reverently, but 
with deep conviction, that when omnipotence is weak, 
then it is strong ; broken, bleeding, dying on the cross, 
Jesus Christ is mightier than if the armies of heaven 
had fought in his name. In the hour of its majesty 
omnipotence may strike terror into human hearts ; but 
when omnipotence allows itself to be mocked, defied, 
wounded, and broken on the cross, it gets hold upon 
the heart deep as the roots of life. The cross, be it 
repeated, goes deeper than mere condemnation ; it 
shows how the holiest suffer most, and how without 
suffering even the holiest cannot forgive. It show r s 
the tenderness of God. He cannot look with indif- 
ference upon fallen humanity ; he suffers with it, that 
through suffering he may renew his hold upon it, and 
recover it to himself. So the cross comes to have a 
great power in interpreting the essential dignity and 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 25 1 

value of human nature. In God's suffering we sec man's 
worth. His erectness, faculty of speech, dominion over 
inferior life, and power of reasoning upon the future, 
have a strange light of divinity lingering upon them 
even now. In his wildest talk there are accents and 
snatches of expression which must have come from heav- 
en ; his magistracy is a reprint of an ancient charter ; 
his thinking is the dim light which struggles through 
an eclipsed genius. He does not know himself as a 
fallen member of the heavenly hierarchy : he gropes 
and flounders as though he had lost something ; and 
now and again there come through his daily life gushes 
of tenderness and glitterings of mind which have a 
deep meaning, a meaning which makes the heart sore 
and sad as it vainly tries to piece itself into wholeness 
and render the ciphers into intelligible language. 
The cross tells man what he is, and what he may 
be. It tells him what a sinner he is, and what a son 
of God he may become. All that, look at it ! to lift 
man up, a cleansed, pardoned rebel ! Tears could not 
reach his case, only blood could; — "without shed- 
ding of blood there is no remission of sins." Only 
life could reach death. Only God can sound the 
depths of the human fall. Christ said he would draw 
all men unto him when he was " lifted up from the 
earth ; " they would see what he was, and what they 
are, and the revelation would have a resurrecticnal 
effect upon them. Not that they would escape suffer- 
ing on that account, but rather that they would suffer 
more when they saw what he suffered for them. In 
the midst of his sin, man does not see the enormity 



252 ECCE DEUS. 

of his own guilt ; in the midnight revel, in the eager 
pursuit of forbidden pleasure, in the whirl and thun- 
der of excitement, he does not see the case as it is ; 
but, when he sees the agony of a holy woman as she 
pours her burning tears over the recollection of his 
misdeeds, he begins to feel how great must have been 
the sin which has wrought such sorrow, and learns 
from a broken heart how far he has gone astray. In 
some such manner, with infinite extension of the pro- 
portions, men see their history best at the cross ; on 
the background of Christ's innocence, as he hangs 
there in mortal pain, they see how black, how ulcer- 
ous, how deadly is their own sin. They never could 
have seen it otherwise. No man could have show T n it 
to them. Only Jesus Christ could reveal the exceed- 
ing sinfulness of sin. 

There is still more in the cross than God's vJew of 
human guilt. There is all that is meant by a word 
which is almost over-familiarized — salvation. It 
shows not only what man is, but w T hat man may 
be ; not only the withered and decrepit rebel, but 
the robed and crow r ried saint. There are yet great 
possibilities in manhood. The sun was a finished 
creation, as large and bright on the first morning as 
he is to-day ; but primseval man was a germ, — little 
as a grain of mustard seed, compared with a gigantic 
and overshadowing tree. The w^orm laid hold of the 
root, and all the juices were so poisoned that no sum- 
mer dew or light can expel the corruption. Christ 
did what was required, and now every fibre feels the 
energy of his life. As out of the dead Christ upon the 
cross came the Mediator who is now in heaven f s« 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 2^3 

out of all who die with him shall come a renewed and 
glorified manhood. 

The cross was an expression of God's love to the hu- 
man family, — not his justice, or vengeance, or wrath : 
these are but fractional words; the integral word is love. 
" God so loved the world that he gave his only-begot- 
ten Son." All love must give. Only one love rose to 
the highest point of sacrifice. The cross means justice, 
law, and satisfaction, only as elements or aspects of love. 
Yet sacrifice, in the sense of self-surrender, we have said, 
is in the very nature of love : it is the last expression 
of love ; we only love any being in proportion as we 
are prepared to suffer for his sake, — not one whit 
more ; we may never be called upon to undergo the 
suffering, still the willingness to suffer is the precise 
measure of the love. If love be represented by a 
straight line, sacrifice is the last point of it, — not 
something beyond it, but something in it, something 
of it. All love, then, is strictly sacrifice, — counting 
nothing its. own while its object is unattained. We 
thus get a glimpse of God's love towards man ; he 
loved him to the shedding of blood — not the blood 
of inferior life, but the blood of his only-begotten 
Son. The point of sacrifice is indicated by the word 
only, — a word which intimates that there was noth- 
ing left behind, no spared treasure, — all was given ; 
not the hand only, but the heart, — not the heart's 
sigh, but the heart's blood. He who gave this might 
well say that he loved the world. To give one out 
of many would have been nothing ; to have only one, 
and to give it, was as much as even God could do. 
Out of all this comes once more the idea of the value 



2 54 



ECCE DEUS. 



of human nature. The ideas of Christ's life and man's 
worth are inseparable ; they so interpenetrate as to 
explain the apparent contradiction that Jesus Christ 
was alike Son of God and Son of man. What was to 
prevent God allowing the human family to fall into 
utter darkness, and to be forgotten forever? Nothing 
but love. He had made man in his own image : how 
could he withhold from him his own Son ? 

But is there not a great practical difficulty? Man's 
relation to the cross is a different thing to the relation 
of the cross to man. In the latter we have God's 
declaration; what have we in the former? Man has 
the power (necessary indeed to being a man) to treat 
the cross with indifference, to join those who wagged 
their heads, and uttered taunting words; and to see in 
the cross nothing but an ignominious failure. God 
did not set up the cross merely that he might win a 
victory, but that he might express a sorrow. If not 
a man be moved by the display of affection and grief, 
the cross has not failed altogether of its purpose. The 
parent weeps even over the child that will not be re- 
covered, and the weeping show T s at once the agony 
and the love. It relieves him even to open the door 
which may never be entered by the wanderer. What 
if this be a hint of the feeling that is in God? What 
if his great sorrow must have an outlet, and if that 
outlet be the cross? 

It is not uncommon to represent the sacrifice of 
Jesus Christ as being a satisfaction to divine justice, 
an appeasing of the divine anger, a quenching of the 
fire that is in God. There is a sense in which these 
terms are true, but the terms have been most foully 



THE GROSS OF CHRIST. 255 

abused and most disastrously applied. The cross was 
not a satisfaction to divine justice as if that were a 
special kind of justice ; it was quite as much a satis- 
faction to what may be termed human justice, — to 
justice itself, whether in God or in man. Human 
nature, quickened into perfect consciousness, would 
itself affirm the necessity of a basis upon which one 
attribute would not be upheld at the expense of 
another. If it was simply the penal side of justice 
that required to be satisfied, then the cross did not 
meet the case, and nothing could have met it but the 
instant and utter destruction of the human family. 
For God to take mere vengeance upon his Son on 
account of a race that had sinned, would have been 
entirely inconsistent with his nature. It is an unjust 
justice that is satisfied with the suffering of an inno- 
cent being ; but a most holy and righteous justice that 
cannot pardon sin without the humiliation of confession 
and the sorrow of penitence on the part of the offender. 
Christ's sacrifice, consequently, was a satisfaction to 
the spii'it of justice alike in God and in man ; it pro- 
tested that the original law was right ; it guarded the 
divine wisdom from the charge of having laid dow T n a 
wrong law ; it made the law honorable, and so pre- 
served the consistency and majesty of God's moral 
government. See what would have been the effect if 
no such sacrifice had been offered : let it be supposed 
that God could have indifferently regarded every vio- 
lation of his law, and that he had virtually said, " If 
you don't like this law, try another, — if my require- 
ments are too exacting, modify them." In that case, 
he would have simply surrendered his Godhead, for 



256 ECCE DEUS. 

no moral law can be modified — to break a letter of it 
is to break it all ; right can never be less than right, 
wrong can never be more than wrong ; and the moral 
law was not a law superimposed upon moral beings 
without any regard to their own nature. On the con- 
trary, it was in perfect harmony with man's moral 
constitution ; so that when man offended the justice of 
God, he also offended his own, and no sacrifice could 
avail that did not satisfy the whole claim of abstract 
justice. This case could be met only by an uncor- 
rupted Being, — a Lamb without blemish and without 
spot ; and such a Lamb was found in the only-begot- 
ten Son of God. The mere affirmation of the sanctity 
of justice would not have been sufficient ; it might 
have been enough for God himself to have thundered 
through the universe that he hated sin and still main- 
tained his law ; but it would have left man where he 
was, for no man can repair his yesterdays, or pay the 
arrears of his life. The crisis was met by the gift of 
the Son ; so that not only may God be just, and yet 
the justifier of the* ungodly, but man can receive the 
justification without feeling that his innate sense of 
justice is dishonored. He can truly say that the law 
was good and right ; that from the beginning God was 
just, and that he alone was guilty and helpless before 
the Most High. He feels that God has not trifled 
with law, but that mercy itself is an aspect of justice. 
The human is satisfied as well as the divine. Was, 
then, the punishment all Christ's, and the favor all 
man's ? Certainly not. Man's punishment is even 
now according to his sensitiveness ; not only at the 
crisis which is popularly designated his repentance, 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 257 

but throughout his life he suffers on account of his 
sins. The good man's life is one unbroken repentance ; 
repentance is not the act of an hour, — it is the constant 
experience of the soul. What, then, of joy? It is 
contemporaneous with repentance. It is inseparable 
from it. The joy that is born of sorrow is the only 
joy that is enduring; not a transient gleam, but life- 
long light. 

We have not followed the analysis of the scientific 
theologian, but have rather come abruptly upon such 
points as have been thrown up by the biographers of 
Jesus Christ. Our purpose may not lose anything by 
this, as the plan of this work does not admit of much 
regard being paid to Polemical Divinity, to whose 
mischievous course we can never refer without a feel- 
ing of intense dissatisfaction. We have the Cross be- 
fore us as the chief fact in all known history ; and as 
there is suspended upon it a Man with whose life we 
have now become reverently familiar, we wish to 
know the exact relation which subsists between the 
life as a whole and this its final and most melancholy 
act. Throughout the life we have constantly seen an 
endeavor to save men ; never to destroy them. Is the 
cross in keeping with this noble aim ! We have, too, 
seen the most perfect unselfishness. Does the cross 
sustain the impression which such unselfishness has 
made upon the heart? Does the cross start a new and 
unexpected chapter in Christ's life, or is it of a piece 
with all that has gone before ? By so much as it is 
accordant with the tenor of the antecedent couise, it 
is a purpose, not an accident ; — by so much does it 
represent a sacrifice, not a martyrdom ; an atonement. 



258 ECCE DEUS. 

not a murder. If Jesus Christ had no power to resist 
the cross, then he was a mere martyr ; but if he could 
have overturned the purpose of the Jews, he was enti- 
tled to say of his life, " No man taketh it from me, but 
I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, 
and I have power to take it again." There is here 
the authority which was present in the working of 
miracles. What if all the other miracles were about 
to be eclipsed in the miracle which he wrought upon 
himself? Was not the Resurrection a gathering up 
and reproduction of the miraculous element which 
pervaded Christ's whole life? Was it not a healing 
of the diseased, an opening of blind eyes, an unstop- 
ping of deaf ears, a strengthening of withered limbs, 
— in short, a magnificent recapitulation of the elo- 
quent argument of miracles? 

So far as God the Father was concerned, what did 
the cross signify? It signified all that can be compre- 
hended under the term love. So far as Jesus Christ 
was concerned, what did the cross signify? Its inter- 
pretation runs thus : I die that men may live ; I en- 
counter the storm of sin that men may live in the calm 
of holiness ; I show how submission may be conquest ; 
I show the utmost verge and boundary of love; I honor 
a broken law and establish a basis of gracious com- 
munication between God and man. He makes all 
other woes light. Men forget their miseries in the 
sob of his overwhelming sorrow. So far as man was 
concerned, what did the cross signify? It signified 
his guilt, his self-helplessness, his entire dependence 
upon God for pardon, purity, and all the blessings of 
salvation. It was the return-way to God ; too strait 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 259 

for selfishness, but wide enough for penitence and 
trust. 

Are sacrifice and atonement equivalent terms? Not 
necessarily. Atonement is the possible result of sac- 
rifice, when looked at from the human side. The 
atonement, practically considered, may be regarded as 
the application which the sinner himself makes of the 
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This may be illustrated by 
a reference to the typical ritual : " Aaron shall bring 
the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself and 
for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin- 
offering which is for himself. Then shall he kill the 
goat of the sin-offering that is for the people, and 
bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood 
as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle 
it upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat. 
And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to 
make an atonement for the children of Israel for all 
their sins once a year." The sinner is not saved sim- 
ply because Jesus Christ died upon the cross, but be- 
cause he accepted that death as his own expression of 
the necessity of sacrifice for the pardon of guilt. He 
thus becomes, in a secondary though most practical 
sense, his own priest; so to speak, he offers Christ 
continually as his sacrifice ; he confesses his poverty, 
and pleads the worthiness of the Lamb. This is not 
inconsistent with the scriptural doctrine of Christ's 
priesthood, for we find that Jesus Christ was both 
priest and sacrifice, — " once in the end of the world 
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
himself," — and thus the marvellous duality w T hich we 
have traced through the whole argument is present at 



26o ECCE DEUS. 

the very end of the life. The sinner can only offer 
himself as a living sacrifice, after he has partaken of 
the benefits of Christ's offering ; but a living sacrifice 
does not meet the necessities of the case, for " without 
shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." A 
man might offer himself, but suicide is not sacrifice. 
He must go out of himself for help ; and if he go else- 
where than to Jesus Christ, he incurs the responsibil- 
ity of counting the blood of the covenant an unholy 
thing. He impugns the wisdom of God. u He that 
despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or 
three witnesses : of how much sorer punishment, sup- 
pose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trod- 
den under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the 
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, 
an unholy thing (koivqv, a common thing, the blood 
of a common man), and hath done despite unto the 
Spirit of grace ? " The Lamb of God has been offered 
for the sins of the world, and thus an atonement has 
been made ; yet, unless every man accept that offering 
on his own account, and, as it were, present it in his 
own name, it will be no atonement for him, — rather 
a witness against him, and a most sure ground of con- 
demnation. If the sacrifice of Jesus Christ were to 
take saving effect without an appropriating action on 
the part of man, the moral constitution of the universe 
would be overridden ; man would be saved apart 
from his own will, and thus his moral liberty would 
be mocked and set at nought. Jesus Christ distinctly 
proceeds on a different principle ; in working out the 
basis of man's salvation, he respects the fundamental 
conditions of manhood, leaving it perfectly possible for 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 201 

his cross to be misunderstood and despised. " If we 
sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge 
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for 
sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment 
and fiery indignation which shall devour the adver- 
saries." 



262 



CHAPTER XVII. 

RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 

THE Cross, which we have just been studying, 
must have produced many deep moral effects. 
It is proposed now to look at its relation to the prin- 
cipal educational agent which had been operating in 
society until the time of its appearance. That educa- 
tional agent was Law ; a term, however, which has 
been used in so many senses, that it may be necessary 
first of all to fix the meaning which we attach to it in 
this chapter with some approach to precision. Even 
in the sacred writings the term " law" is employed in 
various senses : for example, it sometimes compre- 
hends the whole doctrine of revelation, — thus, the 
" delight " of the " blessed man" is in "the law of 
the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and 
night." Sometimes it is limited to the Ten Com- 
mandments, thus, " I had not known lust, except the 
law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Sometimes it 
describes the principle or tendency within men which 
is known as " the law of their being ; " thus, " I see 
another law in my members, warring against the law 
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the 
law of sin which is in my members." Occasionally, 
it is used to signify the sense of right and wrong which 
is in every man, apart altogether from written statutes 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 263 

and formal sanctions: thus — "When the Gentiles, 
which have not the law, do by nature the things con- 
tained in the law, these, having not the law, are a 
law unto themselves : which show the work of the 
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bear- 
ing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accus- 
ing or else excusing one another." This is the innate 
law to which every other law, either of God or man, 
must make its appeal, — a law without which even 
the commandment of God would be a dead letter ; it 
is as the eye of the soul, apart from which all light 
would be shed upon the moral nature in vain. Then 
there is what has been termed the law of love ; that 
sublime concentration and urgency of the soul in all 
loving homage and service, which cannot be regulated 
by written orders, or formal stipulations, but is a de- 
light, a holy rapture, a hallowed, self- forgetful, and 
all-surrendering passion. This is the law of un- 
fallen angels and justified spirits. They serve with 
an ardor which can never be enkindled by any stat- 
utes which could be written with ink, or engraven 
on stones. There are several other, perhaps minor, 
senses in which the term " law " is employed, but 
the main use is that which Paul makes of it, when 
he includes under it all the outward system of com- 
mands, prohibitions, checks, rewards, and penalties 
which was divinely established to meet the apostasy 
of the race. Now, in relation to this system of im- 
perative edicts, the author of Ecce Homo well says 
that the work of Jesus Christ operates in a manner 
at once of ratification and abolition. Paul says we 
are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein 



264 ECCE DEUS. 

we were held ; that we should serve in newness of 
the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Paul 
is most precise and clear upon this point ; he never 
hesitates about it; anticipating anything like objec- 
tion to the width of liberty which he claimed, he 
said, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. " 
He stood in a new relation towards God and man ; 
he was no longer pressed and checked, like an un- 
disciplined child, but had entered into what in one 
of his exultant moods he called the glorious liberty 
of the children of God. How has he attained this 
freedom ? What is the signature, and what the date 
of his charter? In prosecuting the inquiry, we hope 
to come upon the meaning of the words, " The law 
came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ." 
Man must stand in one of two relations to law ; 
either to law as an outward declaration of divine 
authority in a rebellious sphere, or to law as an in- 
ward principle of love, trust, and self-surrender to 
the divine Father. Take the principle into the 
family for practical elucidation. Law, as an out- 
ward authority, is established in the family, to meet 
ignorance on the one hand, or disorder on the other. 
So long as the household has worked harmoniously, 
the head of the house does not feel called upon to 
write commandments, and publish edicts; he truly 
says, "It is better to have spontaneous expressions 
of interest and love, than forced submission ; " but 
when family order has been set aside, he feels that 
wheie love has been defective, law must be made 
stringent ; as the moral impulse is weak, the outward 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 265 

prohibition must be emphatic. Legal restriction is 
in proportion to moral feebleness. The stronger the 
written law, the weaker the unwritten dictate of love. 
The ignorant or self-opinionated man, especially the 
guilty man, must have law thrust upon his notice, 
thundered into his ear, sometimes, indeed, scourged 
into his flesh. By an inverse process we may read 
a nation's (or a man's) moral history by studying its 
penal code. The legislators and magistrates are con- 
stantly, though it may be unconsciously, writing the 
spiritual history of the country. Many criminal laws 
simply mean much crime. So with the family, — 
where there are many commandments, there is moral 
incapacity, or moral turpitude, on the part of the 
household, or a miserable littleness, and pitiful conceit 
of authority, on the part of the domestic legislator. 

Outward law is necessarily consequent upon tainted 
or defective loyalty. God owed it to his own perfec- 
tions, at least to ^publish what was due from the crea- 
ture to the Creator. Silence on his part would be 
tantamount almost to connivance, and would certainly 
have degraded the dignity and authority of right. He 
can, up to a given point, only meet defection on the 
part of moral agents by an instant, emphatic, and 
universal proclamation of what is due to himself. It 
is the same in the family ; in the case of domestic 
insubordination, either the rebellion must be ignored, 
or a stern commandment, adequate to the occasion, 
must be proclaimed ; but God cannot, by his very 
nature, connive at rebellion : he must therefore de- 
clare and establish a law. A cultivated man knows 
w T hat it is to be driven to tell certain insensate people 
12 



266 ECCE DEUS. 

what is due to himself or to his position ; actually to 
put it into plain words : the coarse-grained cannot 
see it unless a law of common courtesy be laid before 
them in letters of the most demonstrative magnitude, 
and the refined man is pained at being driven to do 
what natural sensitiveness ought not to have required. 
All outward law, then, except such as shall be pres- 
ently explained, is a reflection upon man's incon- 
stancy of homage and love. Thus the Decalogue 
itself is a history of man's deep shame. Every one 
of the commandments is really an indictment against 
the human family. To think that such things as are 
named in the Decalogue should have been forced into 
human speech ! Such things as idolatry, unnatural- 
ness, adultery, theft, covetousness ! Such words could 
only have been extorted from the lips of the Holy 
God under a tremendous pressure. That ever he 
should have been driven to say to the very being 
whom he fashioned in his own likeness, " Thou shalt 
have no other gods before me ; " or to say to a being 
that was once lustrous with his own purity, "Thou 
shall not commit adultery " ! How it must have tor- 
tured him — how necessary that at the time of saying 
it he should be encircled with flames of fire ! He 
was not so encircled in Eden ; there he smiled, but 
on Sinai he blushed. 

A distinction must be made between a regulation 
and a law, and between a consequence and a threat- 
ening. Take the terms on which Adam began life — 
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of 
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat ; but 
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 267 

shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die." This, we have said, 
is a regulation or stipulation, simply pointing out 
cause and effect, and is therefore a display of grace 
rather than a formal legal appointment. Everything 
was new ; as the finite is necessarily limited, God 
graciously pointed out the limit ; did not make the 
limit in an arbitrary spirit, but pointed it out as the 
simple necessity of all created or conditioned life, and 
this he did in full recognition of Adam's integrity. 

Law, then, may be looked at in relation to the 
human constitution generally, and so far may be 
described as educational, regulative, and disciplinary ; 
or, viewed historically, it may be regarded as a moral 
protest, a declaration of affronted righteousness, a 
demand of dishonored justice, and so far it is penal, 
coercive, and retributional. The law of Eden was 
informational and regulative ; the law of Sinai was 
retrospective and penal. By considering the law 
given in Eden as purely regulative, we get a new and 
satisfactory view of the so-called probation of Adam. 
The terms of interdict were not threatening, but ex- 
planatory ; they contained simply an announcement 
of consequences, — " in the day thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die." God did not threaten man 
with death as an arbitrary punishment; it was not 
a matter of graduated offence and penalty, otherwise 
death would have been an excessive punishment for 
a first offence, — it was an inevitable consequence, 
spoken of and warned against, in no spirit of threat- 
ening, but with all the care and tenderness becoming 
the divine Father. Why, Adam could not have under- 



268 ECC^ DEUS. 

stood threatening I Think of it ! We know the mean- 
ing of angry tones and menacing gestures, but what 
could Adam know of them ? Threatening in the very 
first conversation with God would have been the most 
self-evident anachronism ! When a parent says to a 
child, " In the day that thou takest poison thou shalt 
surely die," he does not mean that death is a punish- 
ment, but a consequence ; hence his statement is not 
severe, but merciful — not a threatening, but a reve- 
lation. Nor can the child complain of disproportion 
between the act and the effect as an arbitrary appoint- 
ment : it is the outworking and inevitable result of 
a natural law. This gives what we conceive to be 
the right view of Adam's probation. It is not uncom- 
mon to represent that probation as being arranged 
upon arbitrary conditions, as if God had set a snare 
for the being on whom he had left the impress of 
his own image ; it is entirely forgotten in such a 
representation that there cannot be two infinites, 
that the finite must be limited at some point, and 
that trespass upon God's province is necessarily fol- 
lowed by death. We re-state this view because it is 
important in the present connection. 

To show that something more than a system of 
mere restraints and penalties was necessary to meet 
the wants of fallen men, it is only requisite to look 
for a moment at the necessary limitation and weak- 
ness of all outward law, whether indeed it be educa- 
tional or penal. The householder may compel every 
member of his family to be present at the hour of 
domestic worship, but he cannot compel one of them 
to pray. He may be so infatuated as to make a law 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 269 

that they shall pray, but they can in the very attitude 
of prayer mock the law and the lawgiver. The con- 
verse of this is also true : he may make a law that his 
children shall not pray, yet while his frown is darken- 
ing upon them their souls may be holding fellowship 
with God. How inoperative, then, is formal law ! 
Its words are high-swelling, but the heart is its own 
master; it may threaten much, but the soul shuts 
itself in from the storm. The Legislature may re- 
strain men from stealing, but the Legislature cannot 
make men honest. Law may compel men to close 
places of business on Sunday, but law cannot compel 
men to keep holy the Sabbath day. Law may im- 
prison rebels, but law cannot raise rebels into pa- 
triots. We thus get, again and again, a glimpse of 
what is meant by the expression, "What the law 
could not do in that it was weak/' It has no mastery 
over the heart. It sets up prisons, penal settlements, 
instruments of vengeance, and writes an elaborate 
code ; but, after all its efforts to encompass a great 
result, it is confessedly " weak." Law had long ages 
in which to show what it could do ; under its stern 
and righteous rule the earth never became much 
brighter than a prison-house, and human life had a 
deep melancholy gloom of conscious servitude about 
it. Law stood at the outside. Its balance was fault- 
less, its sword was strong and sharp ; no felon could 
escape it, no casuist could outwit it, no hypocrite 
could cheat it with empty promises ; yet it was 
" weak," there was always something beyond which 
baffled, or mocked or despised, its propositions and 
its penalties. 



270 ECCE DEUS. 

The powerlessness of penal law as a morally resur- 
rectional and regenerative agent may be seen from a 
detail of personal experience given by the Apostle 
Paul, in the seventh chapter of his Epistle to the 
Romans : " But sin, taking occasion by the command- 
ment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence ; 
for without the law sin was dead." The man w r as 
living in a kind of moral chaos ; but in proportion 
as law was set up in the chaotic state, he was not 
merely put on the defensive in an argument, but the 
worst passions of his nature took arms against the 
invader. The Milanese hermit is reported to have 
boasted that he had not travelled beyond the city 
walls for sixty years ; but immediately that a royal 
order was given that he should not go beyond the 
boundary of the city, he was seized with an irrepres- 
sible desire to extend his travels. The child is often 
most strongly tempted to open gates w T hich have been 
specially interdicted. If nothing had been said about 
them, probably he would not have cared to open 
them. " Thou shalt not" often quickens what it was 
meant to allay or restrain ; so that again and again 
we are thrown upon the expression — " What the law 
could not do in that it was weak." Why then have 
any law? Because without it chaos and death are 
inevitable ; but with it, notwithstanding the strife 
which it necessitates, there may come a moral quick- 
ening which may lead to the restoration of men. To 
save one man from death is a victory worth all the 
battles which God has fought. Any movement to- 
wards life is better than the miscalled peace of death. 
Miscalled, indeed ; peace is a compound term, includ- 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 27 1 

ing intelligence, pmity, order, moral satisfaction, not 
one of which i» found in death. 

All the weakness and failure of outward law goes 
to show that, if ever the world is to be lifted up, 
the elevation must be wrought by a higher force than 
written statutes. The law has been doing a kind of 
vexatious work ; there has been a good deal of school- 
mastering about its tone and method ; everywhere 
there has been pressure, or correction, or sharp hu- 
miliation ; nothing genial, sympathetic, or alluring, 
has appeared in its whole course. What was to 
follow? Law had long carried its codes in one hand 
and its iron rod in the other; what should displace it? 
Paul answers, — " What the law could not do in that 
it was weak, God sending his own Son in the likeness 
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, 
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in 
us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." 
Law was to give place to Life. " God sent forth his 
Son, made of a woman, made under the law r , to 
redeem them that were under the law, that we might 
receive the adoption of sons." Law could not re- 
establish the filial relation between God and men ; it 
could at best only put men in the position of scholars 
and servants. " For the law made nothing perfect, 
but the bringing in of a better hope did ; by the which 
we draw nigh to God." Sonship, then, was the 
divine idea in starting the corrective remedial meas- 
ures which are classed under the respective designa- 
tions Law and Gospel ; not mere servitude ; not mere 
innocence ; but a holy, hearty love of God as the 
Father of mankind. If man could have been made by 



272 ECCE DEUS. 

law as undeviating in his course as the star in its orbit, 
such constancy would have been a failure, unless it 
had been the result of an intelligent and enthusiastic 
love of God, — such a love as law can never inspire, 

— a love which could be born only of a greater love. 
This throws us back upon the weakness of law : 

God has had no trouble with the worlds, but his 
children have cursed him to his face ! Was it not a 
great risk (we put the inquiry with trembling rever- 
ence) to create any existences that came so entirely 
within the conditions of God's essential narure? In 
fashioning planets, in quickening vegetation, in creat- 
ing brutes more or less bright in instinct, he was, so 
to speak, a long way from himself — far out of the 
awful circle which is specifically divine ; but, when he 
set his hand to the fashioning of ?nan, & creature that 
should be distinctively in his ovjn image and likeness, 
he confined himself within the interior of that circle ! 
Think of what he proposed in making man: the 
creature was to be made in his own image, inspired 
with his own breath, and admitted to his very pres- 
ence for fellowship. Now came the awful problem, — 
How much can man contain of God without seeking 
to contain more? The sun could not seek to extend 
his empire ; the stars never mutinied against their 
King ; in all the uproar of the seas there was no tone 
of discontent : but this creature, this God in miniature 

— will he ever plot against his Maker, will he make 
confusion amid the peaceful order of the universe? 
The higher the life, the higher the difficulty. Ascen- 
sion means complication. Man has less difficulty 
with dead wood than with living wood ; less difficulty 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 2^3 

with, vegetable life than with animal life ; less dif- 
ficulty with a beast of burden than with the child that 
reflects his own image. So with God. His difficulty, 
so to speak, was at the top, not at the bottom of crea- 
tion. It was a child, not a beast, that broke the 
boundary. What was to be done, then ? In the first 
instance, prior to the trespass, while the glory of the 
Divine image lingered on the human countenance, 
there was law regulative and educational, — law that 
would have been a defence of liberty, and would have 
promoted a continual and blessed growth in divine 
strength, favor, and honor, — law that would have re- 
strained only as a father's loving grasp would restrain 
from the edge of the chasm, or the nest of the serpent. 
After this came law judicial and penal. God said in 
deeds what he said in the first commandment from 
Sinai. He showed that there could be but one God, 
and taught the ambitious rival that the power which 
created him could limit his functions, and burn him in 
unquenchable fire. It must have been hard for God 
to say this to his human child ; the words affect us as 
we see them on the page — what must their utterance 
have cost the heart of God ? It was necessary to say 
them. God could not vacate the throne, and leave 
the universe to be overrun by the anarchic spirit. A 
protest must be forthcoming. Hence came all that 
elaborate, stern, magisterial law, back of which lies 
the never-dying worm. 

The history of ages is at hand, so that no difficulty 
need be felt in estimating the effect of this law upon 
the moral growth of man. To do this, in outline, will 
help to illustrate the value of the cross, and to dispel 

12 * 



2^4 ECCE DEUS. 

illusions respecting a merely legal service. The ques- 
tion resolves itself into one of evidence. How does 
the testimony of the acutest students of human nature 
tend? A citation or two from the Christian writings 
will answer the inquiry : " By the deeds of the law- 
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight ; " " The 
law having a shadow of good things to come, and not 
the very image of the things, can never, with those 
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, 
make the comers thereunto perfect ; " "If there had 
been a law given which could have given life, verily 
righteousness should have been by the law." What is 
this but a repetition of the expression, " What the law 
could not do in that it was weak " ? Is any man at 
liberty to treat the verdicts of history with contempt, 
and to try to live by the law as if its weakness had 
never been proved ? 

Now arises the important question hinted in the 
title of this chapter — What is the Relation of Christ's 
Cross to the Law? Have those who have put their 
faith in Christ no more to do with law of any kind? 
Is the Christian life anarchic? This class of inquiry 
seems to have occupied the attention of Paul a good 
deal, and while discussing the subject he makes copi- 
ous citations from his own experience : thus he tells 
the Romans — " The law of the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and 
death." There are two laws here spoken of, — the 
one is said to make free from the other, — the law of 
life liberates from the law of death. The same writer 
speaks of two services, respectively termed " the old- 
ness of the letter" and "the newness of the spirit," 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 2^5 

and rejoices that he is an able minister of the New 
Testament, " not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the 
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." This shows 
somewhat of the new relation in which Christ's cross 
has set Christians towards law. They no longer work 
from the outward commandment, but from the inward 
impulse ; the shalt of law gives way to the must of 
love, — a mightier tyranny, mightier because making 
no pretensions to might. The difference between the 
letter and the spirit as regulating service is seen in 
common life ; the hireling says, "It is my duty" the 
child says, " It is my delight; " the hireling asks, " Is 
it so nominated in the bond?" the child says, "It is 
more blessed to give than to receive." Duty weighs 
and measures all its services ; love can never do 
enough, — it knows nothing of quantity ; it proceeds 
upon the principle that nothing has been given where 
aught has been withheld. 

What, then, is meant by being delivered from the 
law? Take one of the commandments, say — " Thou 
shalt not steal : " — is the Christian delivered from that, 
— is it no longer binding upon him ? Certainly he is 
delivered from it in the sense of not keeping it " in the 
oldness of the letter," but he can never cease to keep 
it "in the newness of the spirit." Obviously, this 
command, in its literal expression, could apply only 
to such as are in the very lowest moral condition ; it 
goes as low down in the moral scale as possible, — 
down to the elemental line. So with all the other com- 
mandments. " These laws (against robbery and mur- 
der), to be sure, were not obsolete, but the better class 
of men had been raised to an elevation of goodness at 



276 ECCE DEUS. 

which they were absolutely unassailable by temptations 
to commit them." * Christ's cross delivers Christians 
from what may be termed moral drudgery ; they are 
not oppressed and pined serfs, but freemen and fellow- 
heirs, serving their Lord Christ with all gladness of 
heart. Let a Christian be told as he is proceeding 
w T ith the business of the day that he must not steal, and 
at once he will regard the remark as an affront or a 
pleasantry. His soul is honest; not honest merely in 
the rough sense of not picking pockets, but in all the 
finest shades of that honesty which will not withhold a 
good opinion where it is due, which will not strain a 
word to the injury of any human creature, which will 
not steal any man's reputation, or plunder any man of 
his righteous claims to consideration and honor. The 
man w 7 ho is truly possessor of " the spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus" cannot have any other gods but his 
Father in heaven ; cannot commit adultery ; cannot 
bear false witness ; cannot kill ; camiot steal. Such a 
man comes down upon all the exercises and avocations 
of life from a high altitude of wise and loving homage 
to the Son of God, and expounds practically the say- 
ing of an apostle — " Whosoever is born of God sin- 
neth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth him- 
self, and that wicked one toucheth him not." If it be 
urged that many professing Christians do break the 
Commandments, notwithstanding high public preten- 
sions, the apostle just quoted gives the only true answer 
— "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, 
he is a liar," — and there is an end of that hypocrisy. 
Paul, too, designates such professors " enemies of the 

* Ecce Homo, p. 200. 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 277 

cross of Christ," and " weeps " as he writes of them in 
his letter to the Philippians. 

The meaning of Christian freedom from " the law 
of sin and death," can be approached only when the 
heart is in the highest ecstasy of love, when the soul 
rises into the unclouded light of full communion with 
God, and forgets all other boasting in glorjang in the 
cross. Such experiences are rare, by reason of the 
weakness of the flesh ; the body could not long endure 
such a strain as the highest joy puts upon it ; yet, in 
the moment of passionate love, when the soul is at its 
full stretch of rapture, we feel how chilling and inade- 
quate is the service required by written statutes : the 
heart spurns the niggardly dole, and cries, with no 
poetic license, but with literal simplicity of meaning, 
" I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowl- 
edge of Christ Jesus my Lord." It does not require to 
be taken to " the mount that might be touched " that 
it may learn its duty towards God ; it has condensed 
the Ten Commandments into one word, and that word 
itself but a syllable, " Love is the fulfilling of the 
law." This love, which subdues and tones the whole 
life, never could have been inspired by law. Legal 
enactments leave no scope for the play of the affec- 
tions ; they show the particulars and the aggregate, 
and demand payment to the uttermost farthing. Love 
comes from personal contact with the all-loving Christ, 
who gave himself a sacrifice unto God for man's sake. 
Love can be learned only at the Cross. Strange as it 
may appear, the loving apostle has marked this love 
as a corollary. He says, " We love him because he 
first loved us : " how delicate is that logical form J 



278 KCCE DEUS. 

Does this love, then, exempt us from keeping com- 
mandments? By no means. But now we come upon 
the commandments in another spirit and from another 
point. " This is the love of God ; that we keep his 
commandments, and his commandments are not griev- 
ous ; " they demand no servile obedience, they are done 
by the heart and not merely by the hand. " If a man 
love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will 
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our 
abode with him." Amid such love how can it be 
otherwise than that the yoke should be easy and the 
burden light? Under the inspiration of such love, in- 
stead of avoiding commandments we inquire diligently 
for them ; constantly the heart is asking, " Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do ? " " And whatsoever we ask, 
we receive of him, because we keep his command- 
ments, and do those things that are pleasing in his 
sight." 

Law regulative and educational, and law judicial 
and penal, is an expression of the divine purpose ac- 
commodated to human limitation and human guilt. 
All incomplete life must be placed under tutors and 
governors, under formal statutes and decrees. Young 
life lives by the senses, and must, therefore, have cor- 
responding arrangements made for its defence and edi- 
fication ; appeals must be made to the eye and the ear, 
and, if need be, the flesh must feel the sharpness of the 
penal rod. All this comes of incompleteness. Life is 
not spheral ; at first it is but an arc, and law assists in 
the extension of the periphery, and corrects, sometimes 
severely, every aberration of the unsteady or unwilling 
hand. This external adaptation to human incom- 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 279 

pleteness is not required by those who are in Christ, 
for in him " dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily," and we " are complete in him," complete in 
every sense ; complete beyond the small entirety which 
the dreams of technical theology have comprehended. 
This is what Jesus Christ came to fulfil. " I am come 
that they might have life, and that they might have it 
more abundantly ; " might have it completely ; might 
so have it as to be beyond the reach of death ; might 
so have it as to bring " the power of an endless life" 
to bear upon " the things which are seen and tem- 
poral." This great bestowment of life — in other 
words, this vast increase of manhood — was rendered 
possible only by the cross of Christ, and the cruci- 
fixion which we endure upon it : " Our old man is 
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be de- 
stroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." 
Christ said that he would " draw all men to him," " if 
he was lifted up from the earth ; " draw all men to 
him to be crucified with him, for men cannot be men 
in the highest sense until they have undergone cruci- 
fixion. Paul said : " I am crucified with Christ." 
No man can be morally crucified without Christ ; he 
alone made crucifixion possible ; and only by joint 
crucifixion with him are we made free from " the law 
of sin and death," and from that " other law warring 
in our members," for " they that are Christ's have cru- 
cified the flesh with the affections and lusts," and can 
understand the apostle when he inquires, with some- 
what of amazement if not of anger in his tone, " If 
ye be dead with Christ in the rudiments of the world, 



280 ECCE DEUS. 

why, as though living in the world, are ye subject 
to ordinances?" He means that, if they had been 
" planted together in the likeness of his death," they 
would have been planted " also in the likeness of his 
resurrection," and so have had much life, which means 
much liberty. The whole is a question of life, — the 
vitality of man had run down to a minimum, and 
could be increased only by the infusion of Jesus Christ's 
life ; and as that began to operate each could say, " I 
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." " I can do all 
things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 

Here, then, we obtain an idea of the influence of 
Christ's cross upon the law which God gave to the 
earlier generations. It magnifies that law and makes 
it honorable, yet delivers those who accept Jesus Christ 
as their Saviour from the bondage of the letter. The 
law of Sinai, comprehending, as it did, worship, nat- 
ural affection, self-discipline, and all social virtues, 
received a deeper and wider interpretation from the 
work of Christ. It ceased, in the case of the true 
Christian, to be a formal externalism, and became a 
living and gracious power in the heart. It so far, too, 
quickened and strengthened man's power of under- 
standing the nature of God, that man needed not to 
study the letter with painful desire to reduce its mean- 
ing to the utmost so as to accommodate his own weak- 
ness, but inspired him with a heroic and unconquerable 
determination to " know nothing among men but Jesus 
Christ and him crucified," and to *' spend and be spent " 
in the service of the Son of God. Instead of throw- 
ing the commandments into contempt, it gave them a 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO THE LAW. 28 1 

higher moral status, and even Sinai itself was shorn 
of its greatest terrors when viewed from the elevation 
of the cross. Love was really the reason of the law, 
though the law looked like an expression of anger. 
We see this, now that we love more ; love is the best 
interpreter of God, for " God is love." 

A practical point arises here : the cynic hears of an 
ideal, and contemptuously contrasts it with the actual 
life of Christians. With the scorn which only cynical 
natures can feel or simulate, he points to the errors 
and weakness of men who profess to be in Christ, and 
asks if these are the fruits of the law of the Spirit of 
Christ Jesus. It is the inquiry of a man who mistakes 
an atom for a globe. The experience of Paul is the 
best reply : " I delight in the law of God after the 
inward man, but I see another law in my members, 
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me 
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my mem- 
bers." A distinction must be made between the sins 
which have the full consent of the mind and those 
which arise from the weakness of the flesh ; these will 
be conquered as the spirit becomes stronger. Paul 
anticipates the possible use which cynics and hypo- 
crites may make of his reasoning, and inquires, " Shall 
we sin because w T e are not under the law, but under 
grace?" If any objector should imagine that Paul 
grants liberty to sin, let him ponder Paul's words : 
" Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that 
ye should pbey it in the lusts thereof, neither yield ye 
your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto 
sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are 



282 ECCE DEUS. 

alive from the dead, and your members as instruments 
of righteousness unto God." Thus liberty is guarded ; 
thus an unholy use of privilege is forbidden, and the 
libertine must go elsewhere than to Christ's Gospel if 
he would bow down to the bad sovereignty of his own 
passions. 






2S 3 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 

ARE men at liberty to live as though the cross of 
Jesus Christ had never been introduced into 
human history? Or does the very fact of the exist- 
ence of that cross involve responsibility on the part of 
men? This inquiry leads to the consideration of the 
practical aspects of Christ's work. 

We have said that Christ's morality was the active 
side of his theology ; — not something added to it, or 
made to be collateral with it, but essentially part of it, 
so essentially as to have no existence without it. This 
position is amply sustained by the Sermon on the 
Mount. One expression in that sermon seems to 
govern the whole doctrine ; the expression occurs 
again and again, with so much gravity that the hear- 
ers must have felt themselves in immediate contact 
with the divine mind : the words are — " Father which 
is in heaven." It is interesting to mark with what 
ease Jesus Christ finds his way from the commonest 
subjects of his discourse to his Father, and how he 
varies the expression from my Father to your Father, 
as if he were addressing his younger brothers. For 
example, when he teaches the love of enemies, he 
gives as the reason — " That ye may be the children 
of youi Father which is in heaven ; " — when he refers 



284 ECCE DEUS. 

to the dispositions and courtesies of the Christian life, 
inculcating a deeper love and a wider salutation than 
the publicans exemplified, he says, " Be ye therefore 
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 
perfect ; " — when he teaches respecting alms, and 
fasting, and prayer, he warns his disciples against so 
acting as to " have no reward of your Father which is 
in heaven ; " — and when he refers to the conditions 
of entrance into the heavenly kingdom, he states ex* 
plicitly that " not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter, but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven." This lofty expression can alone 
interpret the morality of the Sermon on the Mount ; 
it is a heavenly morality ; the sources of its inspiration 
and the rewards of its practice are divine. There is 
nothing earthly in the tone ; there is nothing earthly 
in the motive ; there is nothing earthly in the result. 

Look for a moment at the complete unselfishness of 
the manhood that would be trained by such doctrine. 
From beginning to end, the discourse leads man away 
from himself; and to what does it lead him? It leads 
him to the cross: throughout we have discipline, 
self-denial, crucifixion. The cross of Christ was as 
truly, though not as visibly, set up on this mountain 
as on Calvary. Christ graduated the revelation of the 
cross so wisely that at first men did not see it, but after 
the full revelation came, every introductory word ac- 
quired its true meaning, and w r as seen in its relation 
towards the great end. A few references will show 
how the cross was to be the agent in discipline, and 
how the whole life of man was to be constantly tried 
by the test of crucifixion. The offending right eye is 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 285 

to be plucked out ; the offending hand is to be cut off; 
the man is to go to the offended brother, not to wait for 
the offended brother to come to him ; the natural love 
of display is to be mortified, so that giving, fasting, and 
praying may be done in secret ; thought of life is to be 
given up ; perishable treasures are not to be amassed ; 
and men are to prepare for a strait gate and a narrow 
way. What is all this but the cross? What but the 
spirit of crucifixion can bring a man to unresisting 
suffering, to give his cloak as well as his coat, to go 
two miles instead of one, to give and lend to those 
who ask and borrow? These "sayings" cannot be 
understood until crucifixion has been endured. They 
were, therefore, hard words with which to open a 
mission among selfish men, and their utterance at an 
early period in his ministry instead of its close shows 
incidentally how Christ came to put the first last and 
the last first. It has been said that what is known as 
the evangelical element is absent from the Sermon on 
the Mount ; but no misconception can be greater. 
Let any mere theorist attempt to "do these sayings of 
mine," and he will find that through every step of the 
process he will require the help of Jesus Christ, and 
to feel that is to be conscious of the necessity of the 
evangelical element. At this point of consciousness 
the dominion of self is broken up ; the theorist feels 
his weakness, and reaches the crisis when his destiny 
is determined, — he must then build his house either 
on the rock or on the sand. It is to be observed that 
Jesus Christ does not offer his sermon as a theory of 
morals, but as a moral code which is to be embodied 
in actual life ; so long as men look at it as a theory, 



286 ECCE DEUS. 

they will expose themselves to all the dangers of par- 
tial and misguided speculation, but when they attempt 
to do it, they will be driven to ask the speaker himself 
how it is to be done, for he only can show how a man 
can conquer his own nature and set at defiance the 
bad influences of unchristian society. The first thing, 
therefore, that is done in any honest attempt to carry 
Christ's doctrines into practice is to fight a decisive 
battle with one's own selfishness. We begin where 
Christ began ; he began at the cross, and, from that 
eminence of suffering love, taught that self-denial w r as 
the indispensable condition of membership in his so- 
ciety. 

But is the motive suggested by Jesus Christ suffi- 
cient to enable a man to overcome opposing forces? — 
or is man called to an impracticable morality? Christ 
suggests one motive, — tJie reproduction of the nature 
of God: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
in heaven is perfect ; " " that ye may be the children 
of your Father which is in heaven." He thus says 
that the man who attempts to carry out his morality 
will be moving towards God, w r ill be getting away 
from the earthly and advancing towards the heavenly ; 
and lest the man should fail as he thinks of his own 
ignorance and weakness, Jesus Christ tells him that 
all the resources of God are at his disposal ; he has 
but to ask, that he may receive, — but to seek, that he 
may find ; and if any misgiving should arise as to the 
willingness of God to help him by heavenly gifts, he 
is chided by these words : " If ye then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 287 

Spirit to them that ask him?" Now, is it worth 
while to be like God? The great issue which Jesus 
Christ puts before men is, go higher, or go lower ; be 
the children of your Father which is in heaven, or 
grow away from him into more and more hideous 
moral decrepitude ; — if you do these sayings of mine, 
you shall be like God ; if you do them not, you shall 
be carried away by the floods and the storm. 

In general terms, the case may be put thus : In the 
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ lays down the doc- 
trine of complete unselfishness as the cardinal doctrine 
of his kingdom, and assures all who wish to learn that 
doctrine that they may look to God for every help they 
can ever require. The term unselfishness, as here 
employed, is used in the inclusive sense of mortifying 
bad personal instincts and extending to others the 
most magnanimous and beneficent consideration. 
Man comes to the latter through the former. God 
has no occasion to do the former ; his nature is love, 
and every motion towards love is consequently a mo- 
tion towards himself. This is a general view of the 
Sermon on the Mount ; it may be useful to sustain it 
by going a little into detail. 

The description of the " blessed " with which the 
sermon opens is a magnificent display of conquest 
over self. The "poor in spirit" are first blessed; 
they are empty of pride, of self-defence, of self-satis- 
faction ; they see themselves in their precise relation 
to God, and before him they utter no boast: the 
mourners, the meek, and the merciful are entirely 
unoccupied with self, When a man is his own god, 
why should he mourn? When a man is sovereign. 



250 ECCE DEUS. 

why should he be meek? When a man is self-en- 
closed, why should he be merciful? They who hun- 
ger and thirst after righteousness plainly declare that 
they drink not of their own well, but go out of them- 
selves for spiritual satisfaction : the pure in heart and 
the peacemakers happily combine reverence for God 
with goodwill towards men, both of which are incom- 
patible with self-idolatry ; and " they which are perse- 
cuted for righteousness' sake" are evidently superior 
to selfish indulgence and comfort. Meekness, mercy, 
purity, and peace ; self-poverty, mourning, desire after 
righteousness, and uncomplaining suffering for Christ's 
sake, — all lie quite beyond the sphere of common at- 
tainment ; yet Christ calls them, so to speak, and them 
alone, around him, to be crowned openly with his 
blessing. Is there a single stain of selfishness in any 
one of them ? All the blessed men are good men ; all 
the good men partake of the very nature of him who 
blesses them. The Beatitudes constitute a complete 
delineation of Jesus Christ himself: he was poor in 
spirit ; he mourned ; he was meek, merciful, pure in 
heart, and peaceful: his meat and his drink were to 
do his Father's will ; and he was pre-eminent among 
those who were persecuted for righteousness' sake. 
His power was thus derived from his own enjoyment 
of blessing, so that he could, in the deepest sense, say, 
" The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, 
and they are life." The blessed man himself told how 
other men might be blessed. He preached, not a ser- 
mon that he had learned, but a sermon that he had 
lived. What would be the effect if society were com- 
posed of such men as are described in the Beatitudes? 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 289 

This is Christ's aim, and its loftiness warrants his fol- 
lowers in claiming for Jesus Christ's doctrine the most 
practical moral design. 

The manner in which he calls his disciples to the 
accomplishment of this design is marked by the high- 
est wisdom. With what appears to us as a most 
startling abruptness, he tells them that they are the 
salt of the earth, and the light of the world ; what 
more, then, could be required of them? Instead of 
abusing them, he told them what high things were 
expected of them, and by so much he gave them 
power to achieve them. He first recognized the dig- 
nity and force of manhood, and then with inimitable 
grace remarked upon the uses to which high powers 
might be put. He said, " Ye are the salt of the earth, 
but remember that salt may lose its savor ; ye are the 
light of the world, but remember that a candle may 
be put under a bushel." Here is a beautiful distinc- 
tion between the essential and the accidental, — 
between the capacities of human nature and the uses 
to which those capacities may be put. Men are first 
to be encouraged, then to be directed ; their native 
dignity is to be saved from bad applications ; and they 
are to feel the responsibility of possessing a great na- 
ture. Men are not to be trained by being scoffed at, 
nor are they to be stimulated by any attack confined 
merely to their practical abuses. Christ begins with 
the word of honor, and then passes to the word of 
caution : he says, " You are great, don't prostitute 
your greatness ; you are influential, don't lose your 
influence." What would be the effect of such teach- 
ing upon the moral development of society? It would 
r 3 



29O ECCE DEUS. 

give men a right conception of their powers, and pre- 
pare them for divine counsels as to their occupation. 
This is what Jesus Christ himself proposes to do. He 
saves the savor of the salt, and puts the light where it 
can give light to all that are in the house. Do the 
non-Christian moralists purpose any higher w r ork? It 
can only be for want of careful examination of his 
purposes and methods, that they hesitate to take tl eir 
places in the school of Jesus Christ. It should be 
remembered, too, that Christ does not throw discredit 
upon the dispensations which he came to fulfil and 
supersede. He would not have it thought that he 
came to destroy the law or the prophets, nor would 
he have one of the least of these commandments set 
at nought. Still, the righteousness of the Scribes and 
Pharisees was to be exceeded, otherwise the kingdom of 
heaven could not be entered. In this twofold represen- 
tation, Jesus Christ honored human nature, and hon- 
ored the means of educating it, which had prevailed 
from the giving of the law and the ministry of the 
prophets. He did not accuse them of error ; he 
pointed out their incompleteness. He would not 
allow men to start off on the plea that if the law had 
been better they w r ould have been better too : the law 
was held in its integrity ; it was good for the whole 
period in which God designed it to be operative ; still 
it was only a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, and 
now the higher teacher began the higher education. 

The base of that education was intensely spiritual ; 
— uncaused anger he declared to be murder, lustful 
desires he set down as adultery. He gave, too, deeper 
interpretations of the maxims and laws on which 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 2<JI 

human intercourse had hitherto proceeded ; and the 
noticeable feature throughout is that of elevation, — 
nothing is relaxed, nothing diminished, the whole 
scheme of training is raised to the highest level ; not 
only are the hands to be clean, but the heart is to be 
without a stain ; not only must outward law be satis- 
fied, but spiritual law must be honored. The stream 
was to be cleansed by the purification of the fountain. 
The fruit was to be made good by first making the 
tree good. Can the non-Christian moralists excel this 
idea of the reformation and advancement of human 
society and human interests? If men please, they may 
attempt to make a watch keep time by altering the 
hands, but the only wise plan is to correct the internal 
action. Jesus Christ went to the mainspring of human 
life ; while the Pharisees washed their hands, he sought 
to cleanse men's hearts ; while others criticised the 
action, he pronounced upon the motive. 

The results of this spiritual education were to be 
seen in the entire course of life ; to be seen, for exam- 
ple, in the common use of language ; words were to 
be the truthful expression of the heart. " Let your 
communication be Yea, yea ; Nay, nay : for whatso- 
ever is more than these cometh of evil." Men had so 
distrusted one another that only an oath could be ac- 
cepted as a pledge of sincerity — 

" Kneel with me — swear it — 'tis not in words I trust, 
Save when they're fenced with an appeal to heaven," 

was the rough creed of nearly every class of society. 
This was to be thrown away, and men were to hold 
frank, unselfish, and reliable intercourse with each 



292 ECCE DEUS. 

other. No mental reservations, or Jesuitical subtle- 
ties, were allowed by Christ ; words had a moral 
value assigned them, so that by his speech a man was 
to be justified or condemned. In perfect accordance 
with this simplicity of fellowship are the directions 
respecting secret almsgiving, secret fasting, and secret 
prayer. The processes are to be marked by the most 
intense sincerity, so much so that even God's eye may 
not see wrinkle or flaw upon them. Can the non- 
Christian moralists excel this idea of purity of social 
honor, — this test of homage and service? These di- 
rections upset all that is false in speech, and all that 
is insincere in action ; and set men in a right attitude 
towards each other and towards God. They are 
fundamental in spirit, and consequently universal in 
application, and by so much they prove themselves to 
have come from one who spake with " authority, and 
not as the Scribes." 

All the objections which have been urged against 
Christian morality proceed, apparently, upon a very 
partial collation or a strange misunderstanding of 
scriptural statements. An eminent political economist 
has expressed himself in terms of no ordinary strin- 
gency ; and, if his indictment be valid, an instant re- 
vision of Christian ethics would take place. He says, 
" Christian morality (so called) has all the characters of 
a reaction ; it is, in great part, a protest against pagan- 
ism. Its ideal is negative rather than positive ; passive 
rather than active ; innocence rather than nobleness ; 
abstinence from evil rather than energetic pursuit of 
good. In its precepts (as has been well said), ' Thou 
shalt not ' predominates unduly over ' Thou shalt.' 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 293 

In its horror of sensuality it has made an idol of 
asceticism, which has been gradually compromised 
away into one of legality. It holds out the hope of 
heaven, and the threat of hell, as the appointed and 
appropriate motives to a virtuous life ; in this falling 
far beyond the best of the ancients, and doing what 
lies in it to give to human morality an essentially 
selfish character, by disconnecting each man's feelings 
of duty from the interests of his fellow-creatures, 
except so far as a self-interested inducement is offered 
to him for consulting them." How much latitude 
may be claimed for the parenthetic " so called " is not 
stated, but, unless it saves the moral reputation of 
Jesus Christ and all the Christian writers, who alone 
could teach Christian morality, the description is a 
caricature and a lie. If men persist in accepting as 
Christian morality what was never taught by Christ 
and his apostles, they simply prove themselves im- 
moral. We submit, too, that it would be fair in 
impeaching Christian morality to cite the particular 
passages to which objection is taken. A general 
charge cannot be grappled with, and if a parenthesis 
be skilfully thrown into that general charge the dif- 
ficulty is increased to an impossibility. In the quota- 
tion just given it is alleged that the ideal of Christian 
morality is " negative rather than positive, passive 
rather than active." Then what is the meaning of 
such words as " Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works;" " Whosoever 
shall do and teach these commandments, the same 
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven ; " 
" But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 



294 ECCE DEUS. 

deceiving your own selves ; " " What doth it profit, 
my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and 
have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother 
or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one 
of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed 
and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those 
things that are needful to the body ; what doth it 
profit? " Is this negative rather than positive, passive 
rather than active? It is further charged that " its 
ideal is innocence rather than nobleness." Is this 
true of the morality taught by Christ and his apostles ? 
" Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do 
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which 
despitefully use you and persecute you ; " "If thine 
enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; 
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his 
head." Is this innocence rather than nobleness? 
Christian morality is further charged with inculcating 
" abstinence from evil rather than energetic pursuit 
of good." How do the Christian writings testify on 
this point? " Prove all things ; hold fast that which 
is good ; " " Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
whether they are of God ; " " To the law and to the 
testimony ; if they speak not according to this law, 
it is because there is no light in them ; " " Abhor that 
which is evil ; cleave to that which is good ;" " Hold 
that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy 
crown." Is this a "mere abstinence from evil"? It 
is further charged that " 'Thou shalt not' predom- 
inates unduly over ' Thou shalt.' " This complaint is 
unjust. Christian morality legislates for society as it 
is, and not for society as it might have been, — for 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 295 

real, not ideal man. Christian morality had not only 
to enlighten ignorance, but to restrain evil. We 
venture to say that, in family training, " Thou shalt 
not " occupies a larger share of the daily instruc- 
tion than " Thou shalt," according to the age of 
the children. It should be remembered, too, that 
Almighty God himself pronounced the "shalt" and 
" shalt not " of the Decalogue ; and if he gave the 
one " undue" prominence over the other, he was un- 
qualified to give any moral commandments. In con- 
nection with the moral legislation of the sacred Scrip- 
tures, it cannot be too clearly remembered that it was 
addressed to a fallen race, consequently there was a 
great negative work to be done ; and if " Thou shalt 
not" was much required, the objector should blame 
the immorality which necessitated it, and not the 
moralit) which it was intended to recover. This 
allegation against the negative aspect of Christian 
morality can be accounted for only on two grounds : 
first, upon an ignorance of human nature, which 
reflects not that legislation should be adapted to the 
age and capacity of those who need the law ; and 
secondly, an ignorance of the fact that, though the 
form of the legislation is negative, the reasons of the 
legislation are positive. The objector may forbid his 
child to enter a certain house : the child sees only the 
negative aspect of the command, not the positive 
reason of the commander ; nor could he understand 
that reason, however the parent might attempt to 
explain it. The first thing to do is not to quarrel with 
the legislation, but to have faith in the Legislator ; and 
then his word, how difficult soever of explanation, 



296 ECCE DEUS. 

will be received with confidence and honor, and the 
time of interpretation be waited for with patience. 

An objection has been taken to Christian morality 
from the purely political side. It has been said by the 
writer already quoted, that "while in the morality of 
the best Pagan nations, duty to the State holds a dis- 
proportionate place, infringing on the just liberty of 
the individual, in purely Christian ethics that grand 
department of duty is scarcely noticed or acknowl« 
edged." If we mistake not — and we have read the 
purely Christian ethics with some care — this is a 
superficial and unjust opinion. It should be borne in 
mind that " the State " is an expression which means 
different things in different countries ; or, if it means 
the same thing substantially, there are endless modifi- 
cations in the practical use of the term. Purely Chris- 
tian ethics have a deeper application than the political 
codes of particular countries ; and probably, while 
saying less about the State than Plato does, they are 
all the while affecting State life more powerfully than 
all the formal political treatises that could be written. 
The "purely Christian ethics" address themselves to 
man, and not to particular nationalities ; when men 
reduce the purely Christian ethics to practice, their 
political relations w T ill feel the advantage. Purely 
Christian ethics say, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself: " " Honor all men ; love the brotherhood ; 
fear God ; honor the king : " " Husbands, love your 
wives ; wives, be in subjection to your husbands : " 
" Render unto all their dues, tribute to whom tribute 
is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, 
honor to whom honor : " " Render unto Caesar the 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 297 

things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things 
which are God's." The vital operation of these prin- 
ciples in the intelligence and conduct of any commu- 
nity, would inaugurate a healthier political era than 
could be introduced by the most exact statistical tables, 
and the most elaborately detailed political creed. They 
leave all variations of the State just as the genius 
of statesmen may determine ; but they go to the 
heart of the people, and give its impulses and resolu- 
tions the highest and purest tone. What if purely 
Christian ethics had been occupied in advocating one 
form of government against another, in putting mon- 
archy against democracy, or despotism against consti- 
tutionalism? The influence of purely Christian ethics 
would have been limited, and limitation in moral ad- 
vantage is essentially opposed to the bounty of the 
grace of God. We take this political objection to be 
rather a commendation than a reproach. Politics may 
be local, but ethics must be universal : a man may be 
a democrat or a king, a Czar or a serf; he may follow 
Caesar or Brutus, without endangering his destiny by 
bad character ; but the moment a man attempts to ac- 
commodate ethics to personal prejudice or passion, he 
is dangerous to any State. Jesus Christ commanded 
his disciples to preach the Gospel in " all nations," — 
a thing which would have been impossible had the Gos- 
pel embodied a special political creed ; but wherever 
the Gospel is received, the less is comprehended in 
the greater ; better men become better politicians ; 
larger hearts conceive larger measures ; holier con- 
sciences call for purer statutes ; and as kings and citi- 
zens are drawn toward the Great Ruler, a new vitality 
13* 



29S ECCE DEUS. 

and wider freedom characterize statesmanship and all 
the relations of public life. 

The same writer expresses himself in language more 
decisive still, if possible ; he says, " I am as far as any 
one from pretending that these defects are necessari- 
ly inherent in the Christian ethics, in every manner in 
which it can be conceived, or that the many requisites 
of a complete moral doctrine, which it does not con- 
tain, do not admit of being reconciled with it. Far 
less would I insinuate this of the doctrines and pre- 
cepts of Christ himself. . . . But it is quite consistent 
with this to believe that they contain, and were meant 
to contain, only a part of the truth ; that many es- 
sential elements of the highest morality [the italics 
are the transcriber's] are among the things which are 
not provided for in the recorded deliverances of 
the Founder of Christianity. ... I believe that other 
ethics than a?zy which can be evolved from exclu- 
sively Christian sources must exist side by side with 
Christian ethics, to produce the moral regeneration 
of mankind. ... It can do no service to blink the 
fact, known to all who have the most ordinary ac- 
quaintance with human history, that a large portion 
of the noblest and most valuable moral teaching has 
been the work, not only of men who did not know, but 
of men who knew and rejected, the Christian faith." * 
A little more precision in the use of words would 
have been useful in enabling the reader to understand 
this doctrine. If, as the writer distinctly allows, 
" the many requisites of a complete moral doctrine" 
" admit of being reconciled with " the Christian ethics, 

* Mill, On Liberty. 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 299 

it does not quite appear how " many of the essential 
elements of the highest morality " are not provided 
for by the Founder of Christianity. How can the 
" complete" be " reconciled " with the " not provided 
for " ? When u many essential elements of the highest 
morality" are wanting, how can there be a "recon- 
ciliation " between such a deficiency and " the many 
requisites of a complete moral doctrine " ? At best, 
the reconciliation can only be partial ; partialness is 
incompleteness ; and incompleteness in moral teaching 
is a grave charge to bring against Jesus Christ ; it is 
not incompleteness in merely theoretical or doctrinal 
teaching, but incompleteness in moral comprehension. 
Look at the possible consequences of such incom- 
pleteness. Those who listened to Jesus Christ received 
from him an incomplete morality ; by so much as their 
morality was incomplete their lives might be immoral ; 
by so much as their lives were immoral responsibility 
must be fastened on their teacher. If they had known 
better, they might have done better ; Jesus Christ did 
not teach them better, and upon Jesus Christ the 
responsibility must rest. If it be contended that the 
incompleteness was merely in statement, not in prin- 
ciple, the plea cannot be accepted, because it is dis- 
tinctly alleged by the objector that " many essential 
elements of the highest morality are not provided for 
in the recorded deliverances of the Founder of Chris- 
tianity." Suppose, then, to apply the case to the 
present time, that any man should accept Jesus Christ 
as his only moral teacher ; that his whole life should 
be built upon the sayings of Jesus Christ: it must 
follow, since he has nothing but " the recorded 



300 ECCE DEUS. 

deliverances of the Founder of Christianity " to go by, 
that his life will be destitute of " many of the essen- 
tial elements of the highest morality ; " yet Jesus Christ 
promises that those who " do" his " sayings" shall be 
saved, and declares that those who "do them not" 
shall be lost : but if " men who knew and rejected the 
Christian faith" have favored the world with u a large 
portion of the noblest and most valuable moral teach- 
ing," where is the equity of saving men who are des- 
titute of " many essential elements of the highest 
morality," and condemning men who have given 
society " the noblest and most valuable moral teach- 
ing " ? And if the equity be challenged, what does 
there remain in the teaching of Jesus Christ? The 
men who have "rejected the Christian faith" must 
(i) have had access to higher moral sources than 
were available to the Founder of the Christian faith ; or 
(2) have had finer and larger moral capacity than Jesus 
Christ ; or (3) must have been endowed with what for 
want of a better term may be called a more powerful 
faculty of moral statesmanship so as to enable them to 
legislate more comprehensively than the Founder of 
Christianity. Under any of these assumptions it is 
clear, from the objector's point of view, that Jesus 
Christ is superseded by a higher order of teachers, 
and that his morality must go down with other narrow 
dogmas which were adapted to semi-barbarous ages. 

But is it true that " many essential elements of the 
highest morality are among the things which are not 
provided for in the recorded deliverances of the Found- 
er of Christianity",? What are the essential elements 
of the highest morality ? Would intelligent and loving 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 30I 

reverence for God be admitted to be one of them? If 
so, it is provided for in the recorded deliverances of 
the Founder of Christianity. Is the highest venera- 
tion of human nature worthy to be ranked as one of 
them ? If so, it is provided for in the recorded deliv- 
erances of the Founder of Christianity. Is the loftiest 
disinterestedness, or the most generous magnanimity, 
an essential element of the highest morality? If so, 
it is provided for in the recorded deliverances of the 
Founder of Christianity. Do justice, mercy, forgive- 
ness, and peace, find any place among the essential 
elements of the highest morality? If so, they are pro- 
vided for in the recorded deliverances of the Founder 
of Christianity. Is philanthropy, as shown in loving 
care for all men, alike as regards the body and the 
soul, in any way related to the highest morality ? If so, 
it is provided for in the recorded deliverances of the 
Founder of Christianity. We have not been able to 
discover one essential element of the highest morality 
which is not provided for in those deliverances, and 
w r e have waited with unrequited patience for specific 
references on the part of the objector. In a general 
way the author says, " It is in many points incomplete 
and one-sided ; and unless ideas and feelings not sanc- 
tioned by it had contributed to the formation of Euro- 
pean life and character, human affairs would have been 
in a worse condition than they now are." As not 
one of these " many points " is given, we have no case 
before us. We know not to what " ideas and feelings " 
not sanctioned by Christian morality European ideas 
are indebted for not being " in a worse condition than 
they now are," but our conviction is strong that if 



302 ECCE DEUS. 

Europeans had done unto others as they would that 
others should do unto them ; if they had fed their hun- 
gering enemies, and overcome evil with good ; if they 
had done justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly 
with God ; if they had abhorred evil, and cleaved to 
that w T hich is good ; if they had not believed every 
spirit, but tried the spirits whether they were of God, 
— that their "affairs" would have been so much the 
less voluminous by the absence of every knavish in- 
trigue and every unrighteous war. We cannot see 
what is meant by calling upon Christian morality to 
interfere in European affairs in any other manner than 
that in which it interferes with the affairs of the whole 
world. On this point we have already expressed an 
opinion. Christian morality is not elaborated like a 
table of statistics or an Act of Parliament ; it gives the 
moral spirit, and in that it gives everything that can be 
required. The sun will not do any gardening, but 
without it no gardening could be done. The dew will 
sow no seed, but without it seed would be sown in 
vain. The greater the agent, the less of detail will it 
attempt ; the greater the spirit, the less of literal law 
will it dictate. So it will be found, that where the 
Spirit of Jesus Christ is, the morality of Jesus Christ 
will follow : that Spirit determines the whole course 
of life ; and it should be remembered by all who repre- 
sent the Christian ethics, that, if any man have not 
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. It is, therefore, 
positively immoral on the part of objectors to drag in 
Christ's name as responsible for all moral systems 
which ignorant men may set up. 

The author now under consideration can hardly 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 303 

escape this charge. He occasionally confounds the 
teaching of Jesus Christ with "religious education," 
and the " Calvinistic theory." For example, he affirms 
that " in the morality of private life, whatever exists 
of magnanimity, high-mindedness, personal dignity, 
even the sense of honor, is derived from the purely 
human, not from the religious, part of an education, 
and never could have grown out of a standard of ethics 
in which the only worth professedly recognized is that 
of obedience." This may be a serious charge against 
the " religious education " that was inflicted on the 
objector ; but it is not therefore a true charge against 
Christian morality. We have no intention to be flip- 
pant when we say that we accept the objector's own 
account of the " religious education " which he re- 
ceived, for most truly he has done his utmost to bring 
dishonor upon the morality which would have had a 
happier effect upon him than the dogmas which he 
has mistaken for Christian ethics. Does the objector 
know where "the purely human" part of education 
ends, and where the "religious" part begins? Can 
he inform us what would have been the condition of 
mankind, not to speak merely of European affairs, if 
Jesus Christ had never appeared on the earth ? Does 
" the purely human part of our education" itself owe 
nothing to the inspiring and expansive genius of Chris- 
tianity? Has Christianity done nothing to promote 
the intellectual culture of mankind ? Has the voice of 
Christianity never been heard pleading for liberty, de- 
fending weakness, and assailing despotism ? Is Chris- 
tianity altogether a dumb morality ? Is it mere decla- 
mation that has represented that her trumpet rang the 



304 ECCE DEUS. 

clearest and loudest blast in every call to war for truth 
and virtue ; that her hand was the strongest and stead- 
iest in all conflicts ; and that her white banner was 
never borne off the field in shame? Is there any truth 
in all this, or is it but a frenzied imagining on the 
part of Christ's dupes? No wonder that the objector 
should have come to some such conclusion respecting 
Christian morality w 7 hen we find him confounding it 
with " the Calvinistic theory," which he thus describes : 
u According to that the one great offence of man is 
self-will. All the good of which humanity is capable 
is comprised in obedience. You have no choice ; thus 
you must do, and no otherwise : 6 whatever is not a 
duty is a sin.' Human nature being radically corrupt, 
there is no redemption for any one until human nature 
is killed within him. To one holding this theory of 
life, crushing out any of the human faculties, capaci- 
ties, and capabilities, is no evil: man needs no capa- 
city but that of surrendering himself to the will of 
God ; and if he uses any of his faculties for any other 
purpose but to do that supposed will more effectually, 
he is better without them." We may leave Calvinists 
to deal with this passage, as we cannot profess to know 
their case so well as they may know it themselves. 
We venture, however, to suggest that the term " hu- 
man nature," as employed in this quotation, is proba- 
bly used in a different sense from that in which Calvin 
employed it, and therefore the sanguinary representa- 
tion of " killi7ig human nature" is by no means the 
murderous deed which the objector would have his 
readers suppose. We know not how weak may have 
been the Calvinists with whom the objector may have 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 305 

come in contact, but we own to certain recollections, 
not quite so distinct indeed as we could wish them to 
be, of periods in European history in which Calvinists 
have not shrunk from battle, or prison, or hunger, or 
death, that they might break the sway of oppressors 
and enthrone Liberty in her rightful elevation. All 
this, however, is of comparatively small concern to us. 
We are more careful to point out the slanderous re- 
marks which the author has inferentially, we hope not 
intentionally, made respecting the character of God. 
Even allowing the " Calvinistic theory" to be exactly 
as he puts it, his view of God is most degrading, not 
to say blasphemous. The author speaks of " the will 
of God " in a manner which shows that he entertains 
a doubtful opinion of that will. Practically he con- 
temns the idea of that will being the rule of human 
life. We can conceive of one ground only upon which 
such contempt can be sustained, and that is, the ground 
of imperfection on the part of God. The writing of 
these words costs us no little feeling, yet they are not 
too strong to express the simple fact of the case. If 
God is an imperfect Being, submission to his will may 
be a profound mistake ; but if he is infinite in wisdom, 
infinite in holiness, infinite in love, then submission to 
his will must be the brightest and noblest end of life. 
The decision turns wholly on the character of God ; 
and that being determined, we shall have a correct 
interpretation of " obedience," a term which is appar- 
ently an insuperable stumbling-block in the author's 
way. What is obedience as viewed in the light of the 
true character of God? The objector clearly regards 
it as implying an affront to human reason, and indeed 



306 ECCE DEUS. 

to all the attributes which are characteristic of man- 
hood. He imagines obedience to be equivalent to a 
renunciation of personal thought and a surrendering 
of personal liberty. He would be right if the obe- 
dience were demanded of any being in the universe 
but God. The finite can never be humbled in accept- 
ing the will of the Infinite ; indeed, all human life, 
if properly directed, is spent in one continuous effort 
to reach a higher standard than it has yet attained ; 
what if that effort be called obedience, and that 
standard be called God? It sounds very arbitrary to 
say, " You have no choice ; thus you must do, and 
no otherwise : " but the fact is that every man has 
a choice ; every man may walk in the light of his 
own wisdom ; every man may shut out the sun and 
light his own torch ; or, any man recognizing the 
uncertain, the ever-changing conditions of human life, 
may seek the wisdom which is divine, a wisdom 
which rouses the intellect into fuller vitality, and 
leaves unimpaired every faculty of manhood. 

Let us, however, suppose a state from which " the 
religious part of our education" is totally excluded. 
Great care must be taken in this supposition, for, to 
make the case effective, every trace of God and Jesus 
Christ must be entirely avoided. We cannot allow 
the objector to avail himself even of incidental obli- 
gations to the Divine or Christian element, because 
his declarations upon the general question necessitate 
a choice between positive Divine government and 
practical atheism. He has said that " many essential 
elements of the highest morality " are wanting in 
Christianity ; that " a large portion of the noblest and 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 3°7 

most valuable moral teaching has been the work not 
only of men who did not know, but of men who 
knew and rejected, the Christian faith ; " that " in the 
morality of private life, whatever exists of magna- 
nimity, high-mindedness, personal dignity, even the 
sense of honor, is derived from the purely human, 
not from the religious, part of our education ; " that 
" while in the morality of the best Pagan nations, 
duty to the State holds a disproportionate place . . . 
in purely Christian ethics that grand department of 
duty is scarcely noticed or acknowledged ; " that " it 
is in the Koran, not in the New Testament, that we 
read the maxim, c A ruler who appoints any man to 
an office, when there is in his dominions another 
man better qualified for it, sins against God and 
against the State ; ' " and, above all, he deprecates 
the idea of man surrendering himself entirely to the 
will of God.* Let us, then, accepting these state- 
ments for the sake of argument, exclude the religious 
element entirely from the State. No God of any kind 
can be allowed ; no authoritative standard of morals 
can be acknowledged ; every man must be his own 
god and his own lawgiver ; the sanctions of the future 
life must be ignored as fictions ; the idea of a final 
and public judgment must be treated as a delusion ; 
veneration, which we have been accustomed to recog- 
nize as lying at the base of all great character, must be 
annihilated ; every instinct or recollection that relates 
to divine things must be destroyed or forgotten. All 
this being done, we have to fabricate a theory of 
statesmanship, and to supply bonds of nationality ; 

* Mill, On Liberty. 



3oS ECCE DEUS. 

we have to establish bases of domestic and commer- 
cial relationship, and to start the whole machinery of 
confederated life and activity. We have no sugges- 
tion to offer as to how all this could be done in the 
proposed atheistic state ; but we fear that, having got 
rid of " the religious part of his education," the diffi- 
culties of the atheistic politician would be greater than 
he had anticipated. From one or two hints which we 
find in the work On Liberty we infer that even athe- 
ism itself could not quite escape some of the perils 
which attend society as it is now constituted, — even 
utilitarianism would occasionally get entangled in the 
meshes of speculation. For example, Mr. Mill says, 
" I regard utility as the ultimate appeal on all ethical 
questions," and yet a few pages afterwards he says, 
" The usefulness of an opinion is itself matter of 
opinion ; as disputable, as open to discussion, and 
requiring discussion as much, as the opinion itself." 
What, then, becomes of Mr. Mill's " ultimate appeal " ? 
Utility is the ultimate appeal, but utility itself is dis- 
putable ; what, then, is the value of a disputable ulti- 
mate appeal? Two combatants agree to remit the 
question in debate to the ultimate appeal of utility 7 ; 
but, on approaching the tribunal, they are informed 
that the controversy may be continued, because " the 
usefulness of an opinion is itself matter of opinion." 
The difficulty is not much relieved by another dictum 
of the utilitarian author ; he says, " We can never be 
sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is 
a false opinion ; and if we were sure, stifling it would 
be an evil still." It would follow, then, that if we 
can never be sure that an opinion is false, we can 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 309 

never be sure that an opinion is right ; and if we can 
never be sure that an opinion is right, we can never 
be sure that an action is right (for all intelligent action 
must be founded on opinion) ; and if w 7 e can never be 
sure that an action is either right or w 7 rong, then law 
is a conjecture and justice is an impossibility. We 
are forcibly reminded of the difficulties which Soc- 
rates felt in discussing with the Sophists. Infer- 
ring from their arguments that " it is neither possi- 
ble to speak falsely, nor to entertain a false opinion, 
nor to be ignorant," he half apologizes to Euthyde- 
mus for putting an " unpleasant question," which is 
this : " For if we do not err, either acting, or speak- 
ing, or thinking, — if this be the case, of what, 
by Jupiter, are ye come as the teachers? " Will 
it be answered that there are certain opinions and 
courses of action settled as good and useful, or useful 
and therefore good? We may ask, Who settled them ? 
Who had any right to settle them? It must be borne 
in mind that we are conducting the inquiry on the 
understanding that u the religious part of our educa- 
tion " has been strictly excluded from society ; hence 
the appositeness, and hence the necessity, of asking, 
Who settled that any opinion or any course of life is 
useful and good? Mr. Mill gives what is apparently 
intended as a solution of this difficulty ; he says, 
u Complete liberty of contradicting and disapproving 
our opinion is the very condition which justifies us in 
assuming its truth for purposes of action ; and on no 
other terms can a being with human faculties have 
any rational assurance of being right." This is some- 
what firm for a man who has just laid down the doc- 



3IO ECCE DEUS. 

trine that we " can never be sure that the opinion we 
are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion." Even 
after it is "completely contradicted," what then? 
Contradiction simply amounts to setting one opinion 
against another ; and, if the appeal he made to 
" utility," we are told by the author that " the use- 
fulness of an opinion is itself matter of opinion." 
The subject is not much illuminated by another de- 
liverance : " The cessation, on one question after 
another, of serious controversy is one of the necessary 
incidents of the consolidation of opinion ; a consolida- 
tion as salutary in the case of true opinions, as it is 
dangerous and noxious when the opinions are erro- 
neous" We use italics, because we are somewhat 
startled to find so broad a distinction drawn between 
opinions that are true and opinions that are erroneous, 
when we have just been told that " we can never be 
sure " that any opinion is false ! 

The practical difficulties in carrying out Mr. Mill's 
ideas are hardly less than those of accepting his the- 
ories. When opinion is formed, it may, of course, 
become an active agent ; Mr. Mill anticipates this, 
and lays down the following illustrated doctrine : " An 
opinion that corndealers are starvers of the poor, or 
that private property is robbery, ought to be unmo- 
lested when simply circulated through the press, but 
may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to 
an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn- 
dealer, or when handed about among the same mob 
in the form of a placard." What is the object of an 
opinion being " simply circulated through the press "? 
Is it not to create public opinion? Who is responsi- 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 3II 

ble for the excitement of a mob ? Can those persons 
be held guiltless of the excitement (supposing it to 
take an insurrectionary turn) who have simply circu- 
lated through the press the doctrine that private prop- 
erty is robbery? Which are the more guilty, the men 
who taught the lesson or the men who carried the 
lesson into effect? If the opinion did not lead to 
action, the doctrine would be harmless ; but opinions 
do lead to action, and the serious question is, Who 
are responsible in cases of insurrection, the teachers 
or the taught? The teacher may be less inflammable 
than the man who receives his instructions ; but it 
seems, from our point of view, just as dangerous to 
teach the doctrine that private property is robbery 
as to throw a spark upon a powder magazine. Mr. 
Mill, as it appears to us, in constructing his atheistic 
or, if he so please, utilitarian scheme of society, has 
overlooked the practical aspect of opinion. He ap- 
parently forgets that opinipss express themselves in 
action, and that the mental life (except in cases of 
the grossest hypocrisy) determines social action and 
influence. Mr. Mill apprehends no more evil from 
the advocacy of any opinion than from the recitation 
of the letters of the alphabet or the enumeration of 
a list of adverbs, provided that advocacy be not asso- 
ciated with such a powerful temptation as that of 
speaking against corndealers before the house of a 
corndealer.* If a " placard " against corndealers be 
given away at the door of a blacksmith the circum- 
stance may not be criminal, but if at the door of a 
corn-merchant it becomes an indictable offence, though 
the blacksmith may live immediately opposite the corn- 
* On Liberty ', p. 22. 



312 ECCE DEUS. 

merchant ; so great a difference may ten yards of 
pavement make ! Yet Mr. Mill does now and again 
turn to practical matters ; he says that " the liberty 
of the individual must be thus far limited : he must 
not make himself a nuisance to other people." What 
is a nuisance? The man who "circulates through 
the press the doctrine that private property is rob- 
bery " may be making himself a nuisance to his 
honest neighbors ; the man who sets up utility as the 
ultimate appeal on all ethical questions may be making 
himself a nuisance to other people ; the man who 
u simply circulates through the press " the statement 
that Calvinism " kills human nature " may be making 
himself a nuisance to other people : it is necessary, 
consequently, to have a definition of a nuisance before 
we can limit the liberty of the individual who makes 
himself a nuisance to other people. The utilitarian 
must give his opinion of a nuisance, and when he has 
done so we may remind him that we " can never be 
sure " whether an opinion is either true or false. 

These are some of the difficulties that we have found 
in the working of the Atheistic Constitution. In the 
absence of an absolute standard of morals, we have 
felt it impossible to decide anything. What one of 
the utilitarians said yesterday is contradicted by anoth- 
er to-day. That which was harmless on a placard has 
become treasonable in a speech. Utility itself has 
been pronounced useless, and every opinion has been 
charged with uncertainty. It may be an excellent 
constitution for atheists ; it may be very satisfactory to 
men who wish to disclaim personal responsibility ; but 
we confess to a consciousness of deep want which can- 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS. 313 

not be satisfied with the sophisms of utilitarianism. 
The quotations which we have made from one utilita- 
rian would seem to justify the opinions which Lord 
Macaulay pronounced on utilitarians as a body : u We 
cannot say that we think the logic on which they pride 
themselves likely to improve their heads, or the scheme 
of morality which they have adopted likely to improve 
their hearts ; " and again, " The utilitarians have some- 
times been abused as intolerant, arrogant, irreligious ; 
as enemies of literature, of the fine arts, and of the 
domestic charities. . . . But scarcely anybody seems 
to have perceived that almost all their peculiar faults 
arise from the utter want both of comprehensiveness 
and precision in their mode of reasoning." 

From utilitarianism we turn to Christianity with a 
most grateful sense of relief. Whatever mysteries be- 
cloud some sides of it, we can at least comprehend its 
sublime morality founded upon a right idea of God. 
It descends into no such details as have just been dis- 
cussed ; it simply raises the whole nature of man to 
its proper elevation, and gives human reason the ad- 
vantage of Divine guidance. Its teachings are enforced 
by the highest sanctions ; the dignity of manhood is 
constantly recognized ; and the doctrine of responsi- 
bility constantly enforced. The greatest mind may 
reflect with satisfaction and delight on its great prin- 
ciples, while the simplest mind may comprehend its 
practical directions. Every heart knows the meaning 
of love, and Jesus Christ makes his appeal to love 
alike in the name of God and of man. Christianity 
is addressed to all that is fundamental in human na- 
ture ; it needs no accommodations to accidental circum- 
H 



314 ECCE DEUS. 

stances, any more than the sun needs to adapt himself 
to the various features of the landscape, or the atmos- 
phere to the changing dialects of the nations. 

The Ptolemaic theory of morals is superseded by 
the morality of Jesus Christ. The earth is not the 
centre of the universe ; self is not the centre of life. 
" It may be truly affirmed that there never was 
any philosophy, religion, or other discipline, which 
did so plainly and highly exalt the good which 
is communicative, and depress the good which 
is private and particular, as the holy faith." * 
God is the sun : around him life should constantly 
revolve, drawing from him light, w r armth, beauty, 
and fruitfulness. A motion round its own axis alone, 
w r ould mean night, winter, death ; but the revolution 
round the sun means day, summer, immortality. The 
utilitarian morality is to be classified with the Ptole- 
maic astronomy. Both have a wrong centre ; a centre 
which necessitates a delusive survey and an incorrect 
calculation. It may seem a small thing to the hardy 
utilitarians that Christians should be passive, innocent, 
and negative ; but perhaps the utilitarians consider too 
little the severity of the process through which Chris- 
tians have come into the character which is held in 
such philosophical contempt, and forget that what is 
now negative may be preparatory to what is affirma- 
tive. Jesus Christ himself, looked at on the cross, 
presents a spectacle of extreme weakness and humilia- 
tion ; nothing could more effectually excite the scorn 
of strong-minded utilitarians ; yet his weakness may 
be succeeded by strength ; the ear of corn may be 

* Bacon. 



RELATION OF THE CROSS TO PRACTICAL MORALS* 315 

dying that it may bring forth a fuller life ; so that 
judgment upon the case may be premature. Does it 
ever occur to the robust mind of the utilitarian that he 
may be reasoning upon an incomplete induction? We 
venture to think that he is never troubled with self- 
convictions upon this point. But is he not aware 
that self-restraint is a clearer proof of strength than 
self-gratification? Who is the strong man: he who 
seeing luxuries must sate his appetite, or he who can 
look at them and hold his desires in moderation, — 
nay, further, who can deny himself of every one that 
he may dispose of them for the benefit of others? 
Who is the strong man : he who instantly repays the 
slights and hurts which have been inflicted upon him, 
or he who is willing to forgive even where he is able 
to destroy? Who is the strong man: he who will 
live so as to gratify every lust, or he who says that, if 
eating flesh cause his brother to offend, he will eat no 
more while the world stands? At this point we see 
what the utilitarians may regard as the weakness of 
the cross ; so far they are partially right ; it now 
remains to show them that crucifixion is to be suc- 
ceeded by resurrection ; that the man who has cruci- 
fied himself may come to have a wide and lasting 
rulership. 



316 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

THE resurrection of Jesus Christ will not be called 
in question by any who pay the slightest regard 
to the authority of the Christian writings. On this 
point there is entire consistency and unanimity on the 
part of the witnesses ; and so important is the fact of 
the resurrection that the stupendous fabric of the 
Church has been built upon it : " for if Christ be not 
risen from the dead, then is our preaching vain, and 
your faith is also vain." It is not proposed, then, to 
go into the evidence respecting the resurrection, but 
to inquire, What effect, if any, did the resurrection 
produce on the spirit and ministry of Jesus Christ? 
Moments of triumph put a man's spirit to the test. 
Many men appear to be humble so long as all weap- 
ons of war or resources of defence are beyond their 
reach, who become inspired with desire for revenge 
when circumstances combine in their favor. How 
was it with Jesus Christ? Did the voice which 
sounded over the open grave correspond with the 
music which announced the lowly birth in Bethlehem ? 
The angels sang of " good will towards men : " did 
Jesus Christ, after the resurrection, contradict or fulfil 
their song? 

The writer of the first Gospel enables us to answer 



THE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 317 

these inquiries. The eleven disciples met their Master 
by appointment upon a mountain in Galilee ; their 
emotions were not unnaturally conflicting, — " they 
wor shipped him, but some doubted." Jesus Christ's 
first word to them, as recorded by Matthew, reveals 
the spirit of the Gospel in a most graphic and impres- 
sive manner : " All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth" — what then? We thought he had "all 
power " before, when he wrought his mighty works, 
— to what use, however, did he put his power? 
When " all power" is given into the hands of a man 
who has been exposed to the highest indignities which 
society can inflict upon him, it may be expected that 
his enemies will not escape judgment. It is not only 
interesting, but most exciting, to pause at the expres- 
sion " all power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth," and to conjecture how the sentence will be 
finished. We know how it is finished, yet so far as 
it is possible to move the mind back to the critical 
point the excitement is most intense. The language 
of doom might come after such an announcement ; the 
"power" might express itself in forms of vengeance, 
in the overturning of the Roman rule, in the expul- 
sion of every priest who had given his voice for the 
cross, or in the calling down of fire upon all his ene- 
mies. Such are some of the possible uses of power ; 
what is the use which Jesus Christ makes of his 
omnipotence? Having asserted his possession of all 
power, he adds, "Go ye therefore, and teach all na- 
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Jesus Christ 
thus taught the true use of all power. Power is only 



318 ECCE DEUS. 

used truly as it is used educationally,— "Go ye there- 
fore and teach" They who have must give. No man 
is at liberty, according to the laws of the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ, to turn his power to merely personal 
or selfish uses. His power must be expended for the 
world's advantage, otherwise Jesus Christ will dis- 
claim his professions of discipleship. The measure 
of any man's power is the measure of his obligation 
to educate society, — the power may be intellectual, 
commercial, social ; that is to say, the man may have 
great thinking powers of his own, or great pecuniary 
resources, or great influence arising from a lofty repu- 
tation ; and Jesus Christ claims that " all nations " 
shall have the advantage of his ability. As he was, 
so his disciples are to be in the world according to 
their measure, for it is plainly declared that " if any 
man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
The spirit of Christ is educational, and therefore will- 
ingness to educate is the test of life in Christ. When 
Paul addressed the elders of the Church of Ephesus, 
he said, " I kept back nothing that was profitable 
unto you," plainly showing that he had deeply entered 
into the spirit of Jesus Christ. This idea of " keeping 
back " is most expressive. Ananias and Sapphira 
64 kept back part of the price," and we know their 
fate ; Paul " kept back nothing," and we know with 
what exultancy he looked forward to his " crown ; " 
the goats kept back the bread and water, and they 
went away into everlasting punishment ; the sheep 
kept nothing back, and they entered into life eternal. 

The comprehensiveness of this educational charter 
is most suggestive. There is the grandeur of the 



THE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 319 

conception ; standing with eleven men, poor and unlet- 
tered men, upon a mountain in Galilee, Jesus Christ 
turns the world into a great school, and elects teachers 
who may constantly draw upon himself for instruction 
and inspiration. He refers to no difficulties, never 
provides for surrender or withdrawment, describes no 
boundaries ; but speaks of the world as a unit, of all 
nations as scholars, and of his Gospel as the theme of 
every teacher. Before the magnificence of this con- 
ception even the miracles dwindle into insignificance. 
Then there is the implied adaptation of the Gospel to 
human nature universally. There are no modifica- 
tions of the subject ; the Gospel is one just as the sun 
is one ; and human nature is as essentially one as is 
the Divine nature. Then there is the determination 
of destiny, — he that believeth shall be saved, he that 
believeth not shall be damned. No statesman ever 
spoke of the affairs of state with so much ease, confi- 
dence, and comprehensiveness as Jesus Christ spoke 
of the world. He looked w T ith the eye and spoke with 
the voice of the Universal Prince, yet the marks of 
recent wounds were on his hands and his feet, and no 
man was ever more unprincely in his visible resources. 
This must be accounted for by those who deny his 
Godhead ; to those who believe in his Godhead the 
case presents no difficulty. They would rather ac- 
cept the mystery of God becoming man than the 
impossibility of man becoming God. 

So far the spirit of Jesus Christ after the resurrection 
is entirely accordant with all that we have seen in 
him up to the time of the crucifixion ; what difference 
there may be is not one of nature, but of application ; 



320 ECCE DEUS. 

the benevolence is the same, though the commission 
now includes the whole world, as well as the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel. There remain two 
instances of Christ's posthumous spirit yet to be 
looked at, in which the world can never cease to be 
interested. They relate to individuals, it is true, yet 
those individuals may be regarded as representative so 
long as doubters and backsliders are to be found in 
society. Happily, the disciples represented various 
temperaments, and various intellectual capacities. 
Had they been elected upon some special principle 
of inclusion, that circumstance would have excited 
suspicion ; as it was, however, the most opposite 
characteristics were represented by the eleven dis- 
ciples, so that the teaching of Jesus Christ had to 
commend itself to what was essential, and not to what 
was accidental, in human nature, and this is the more 
remarkable when it is considered that nearly every- 
thing he said seemed to be entirely opposed to the 
main conditions of human nature generally, and of 
Jewish society particularly. The two instances re- 
ferred to are singularly pathetic. The first is that of 
Didymus. He was absent when Jesus Christ appeared 
to the disciples on the evening after the resurrec- 
tion, and when the appearance was reported to him 
he met the statement with the most resolute scepti- 
cism : " Except," said he, " I shall see in his hands 
the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print 
of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will 
not believe." To see his general appearance would 
not be enough ; to hear his voice (which sufficed for 
Mary Magdalene) would not be enough ; he must 



THE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 3 21 

descend into particulars, and elect his own standards 
of judgment. How will Jesus Christ treat the doubt- 
er? A question of transcendent import ! The doubter 
will come upon every age : on what principle shall he 
be encountered? After eight days Jesus Christ made 
a second appearance to his disciples, and the doubter 
was present ; as soon as he repeated Elgfyij fy^, Jesus 
passed at once to the sceptical Didymus, and said, 
" Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; and 
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side ; and 
be not faithless, but believing." Instead of resenting 
the slight which had been cast upon the veracity 
of his disciples, instead of rebuking an occasional 
absence from the Christian fellowship, Jesus Christ 
actually submitted to the very tests which the doubter 
himself had elected ! He was greater in that hour 
than when he wrought the chief of his miracles. He 
gave, however, a gentle hint that the time of personal, 
sensuous revelation was just closing, and that the 
spiritual era was about to open. He said, " Thomas, 
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed ; blessed 
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." 
It was an appropriate close of the physical dispensa- 
tion, a powerful and convincing climax ! Any other 
climax would have been a failure. A hand thrust 
into the wound finishes with most tragic effect what 
Simeon so well began when he took the child in his 
arms and sighed for rest. Thomas Didymus was the 
first doubter that entered into peace through the 
wounded Christ, and to-day there is no other plan by 
which the soul can steady itself but by resting on the 
same wounds, though in a higher and nobler sense. 
14* 



322 ECCE DEUS. 

Not only was this an appropriate conclusion of the 
physical testimony, but a most gracious introduction 
to the spiritual age : " Blessed are they that have not 
seen, and yet have believed." It was the old word. 
We heard it first on the Mount of Beatitudes, we hear 
it last on the way to Olivet, the Mount of Ascension ; 
it was " blessed " at the beginning, it was " blessed " 
at the close ; the changeful anthem, varying from the 
whisper of a breeze to the noise of a storm, began and 
ended on the same note. The last man who believed 
by sight, was not so blessed as the first man who 
believed on testimony. Each age has been offered 
a larger blessing than that which was offered to its 
predecessor. 

The second instance is still more deeply interesting 
than the first. All the disciples forsook Jesus Christ 
and fled about the time of the crucifixion. The case 
of Peter was one of special aggravation. He denied 
his discipleship with an oath. The first to accept 
Christ's call, he w r as the most resolute in disclaiming 
his Master. Can a crime like this be forgiven? Is 
there compass enough in Christ's love to get round a 
treason so black, an apostasy so complete? When 
the sovereign and the traitor meet, what will happen ? 
They did meet. Early in the morning Jesus Christ 
appeared on the shore of Tiberias, and accosted seven 
or eight of his disciples, who had been fishing all 
night without success. With the keen instinct of love, 
John was the first to identify the Master. Turning to 
Peter, he said, "It is the Lord." That was enough 
for the man who carried an intolerable burden on his 
heart ; when he heard it was the Lord, " he girt his 



THE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 323 

fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked), and did cast 
himself into the sea." We know not what happened 
in the private interview which succeeded, the inter- 
view between the great sinner and the greater Saviour. 
It is better that we do not know ; better that the heart 
should have its own sweet and secret memories of 
intercourse with Jesus Christ, — something that should 
be quite the heart's own treasure. Perhaps no words 
passed ; perhaps only a look ; perhaps only a grasp 
of the wounded Hand ! We know the effect of one 
look ; it broke Simon Peter's heart : perhaps the look 
of the eyes which had slept in death, healed it again. 
We cannot tell ; we wish to know, yet we would not 
inquire, lest we profane the sanctuary of the soul. 
Part of the story is told. The risen Saviour dined 
with the disciples. After dinner Jesus saith to Simon 
Peter, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more 
than these?" He was once boisterous in his demon- 
strativeness, — ready for prison, prepared for death, — 
yet he was convicted of falsehood and profanity ! 
How would he answer now? u He saith unto him, 
Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee." Again 
the question, and again the answer ; and yet once 
more ; the three denials were lost in the three con- 
fessions ; and the thrice plighted backslider was thrice 
charged to feed the flock, — to feed the lambs, and to 
feed the sheep ; no partial ministry ; no sign of hu- 
miliation attached to the service ; the forgiveness was 
complete, the restoration was vital. In the beginning 
of his ministry Jesus Christ had said to Simon Peter, 
" Follow me ; " the old words precisely were repeated 
on Ihis occasion. Jesus foretold the circumstances of 



324 ECCE DEUS. 

Peter's death, and then said, " Follow me," The 
broken link was taken out, and this new one put in 
its place. We know what a strong man Peter be- 
came after his restoration, — how he excelled all the 
New Testament writers in richness of pathos, and 
how he rivalled even Paul in catholicity and labor. 
The heart is enriched by its sorrows. Restored men, 
so often looked upon with suspicion, ought to be the 
wisest of Christian teachers: wise to guide the sheep, 
and strong to carry the lambs. 

In this charge to Simon Peter, Jesus Christ gives 
no instruction as to theology or morals. Nothing ap- 
proaching the nature of a formal creed is hinted at. 
Yet this would have been the time above all other 
times, had such a creed been necessary, to enter into 
details ; specially so with Simon Peter, who had fallen 
into shame. On what, then, was the great mission 
founded? Simply on love. Where there is intense 
love of Jesus Christ, there is capacity to feed the flock ; 
where this love is wanting, all other capacity is use- 
less. Love is the security of the Christian life, and 
of the Christian apostleship. Love is the guarantee 
of morality, for love is the fulfilling of the law. God 
so loved that he gave; man, too, must so love as to 
give. He is not to be drawn with chains of iron ; he 
is to be impelled by love. Consider w r hat love is, and 
see its sufficiency and power. Love is the term which 
expresses the purest and intensest enthusiasm of the 
soul. When that purest and intensest enthusiasm is 
directed towards Jesus Christ, love attains its noblest 
development. The whole man is aglow with an ardor 
which nothing that is unholy can touch and live ! The 



VSIE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. I) 2 J 

man's vitality is at its highest point ; every sensibility 
is as keen as it can be ; every faculty is under pledge 
to suffering or service. This was all that Jesus Christ 
required even of the man who had fallen so foully, and 
shown himself so helpless under pressure. Before the 
crucifixion he had trusted in himself: the very last ele- 
ment of self-conceit was to be destroyed in him, and 
henceforth he was to live under the inspiration and 
guardianship of perfect love. There is no faculty of 
interpretation equal to love ; it has access, so to speak, 
to every chamber of God's heart, and can speak all 
languages : nor is there any capacity of suffering equal 
to it ; it accepts suffering as a trial of reality and 
strength, and wrings great spoil from its unwilling 
grasp. This we had known before; but Jesus Christ 
employs a word which calls us to consideration ; on 
being assured of Simon Peter's love, he tells him to 
feed the flock. How can love feed? We know how 
love can stimulate, defend, or soothe ; but this new 
word startles us somewhat. Yet it need not. Love 
delights in the satisfaction of others. It does not care 
in any low sense to feed itself; it thrives best when it 
gives most, and does most for the lambs and the sheep. 
But which lambs and sheep ? Is the fold defined ? 
Yes : Feed my lambs — feed my sheep — was the 
command of Jesus Christ : the love was Christ's, the 
service was Christ's ; nor does Simon Peter appear to 
have forgotten the charge, or the metaphor by which 
it was expressed, for long after he wrote, — " Feed the 
flock of God which is among you, taking the over- 
sight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for 
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; . . . and when the 



326 ECCE DEUS. 

chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away." Love must, by the 
force of its own nature, feed others, — study them, 
comprehend their capacity ; and satisfy them when 

they feel 

" The curse of a high spirit famishing 
Because all earth but sickens it." 

Jesus Christ dealt thus with the doubter and the apos- 
tate, — gently, instructively, and forgivingly. Not a 
harsh word was said to either of them : let the church 
recollect this, and consider how far the servant has 
followed the Master's example. There may be some 
standing without who should be called within. 

Jesus Christ made a remarkable posthumous appear- 
ance to two of his disciples, as they walked to Em- 
maus. They may be regarded as representing men 
who have taken an incomplete view of the facts which 
relate to Christ. If their collation of evidence had 
been fuller, they would have had less trouble. They 
saw but a "fragment" of the case; " and as they 
communed one with another, they were sad." (Luke 
xxiv. 17.) The interview between Jesus Christ and 
them was remarkable chiefly for the full exposition of 
the case which Christ gave from what may be termed 
the documentary side : " Beginning at Moses and all 
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the 
Scriptures the things concerning himself." This puts 
the Old Testament in its right position. It is a Chris- 
tian document. From the beginning of revelation to 
its close, Christ is the main subject : without him there 
was nothing to be revealed. 

At the close of all, he breathed upon his disciples 



THE POSTHUMOUS MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 327 

the Holy Ghost. This, however, was but preparatory 
to the full gift which was shortly afterwards received. 
They were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they 
were endued with power from on high. Thus the 
epochs merged into one another. John pointed to 
Jesus, Jesus promised to send the Comforter, and so, 
after long ages, we have come to the rule of the Spirit. 
He works deeply though silently. His " going " is 
not heard in the thunder, or earthquake, or whirlwind. 
He comes as quietly as the morning, and while un- 
observing men are exclaiming, " Where is the promise 
of his coming? " he is actually filling the heavens with 
light and renewing the face of the earth. Of him it 
may be said, as was said of Jesus Christ, " There 
standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he 
it is"! 



328 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON "ECCE HOMO." 

^ I ^HE most cursory observation cannot fail to no- 
tice the innumerable beauties of this publication. 
The writer has rendered inexpressible service to the 
cause of free religious inquiry by his discussions of 
ethical truth, and given views of Jesus Christ's Life 
and Work which must be most useful in many ways. 
The present writer cannot but thank the author of 
JEcce Homo for the intellectual stimulus and moral 
inspiration which he has derived from a repeated pe- 
rusal of its instructive and stimulating pages. It is in 
no captious spirit, therefore, that the following Notes 
are submitted to the respectful consideration of the 
author and readers of Ecce Homo. The writer is 
most anxious that the truth should be vindicated, at 
what risk soever to all minor considerations. The 
term "Notes" is employed because what follows is 
little more than an arrangement of mere marginalia ; 
the subjects themselves have been discussed, more or 
less, in preceding chapters ; what remains is a series 
of running criticisms or suggestive inquiries. 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON Cl ECCE HOMO." 329 

I. Page 25. 

" The conception of a kingdom of God was no 
new one, but was familiar to every Jew." 

True ; but Christ came to give that conception a 
profounder interpretation, and a more intensely spirit- 
ual bearing. The Jew had a carnal idea of a spiritual 
fact. 

II. Page 26. 

John and Christ " revived the obsolete function 
of the prophet, and did for their generation what a 
Samuel and an Elijah had done for theirs." 

This is too narrow an interpretation of the term 
u prophet," and too limited as applied to Christ. A 
prophet may teach as well as merely predict. — 
Samuel and Elijah spoke of another, Christ spoke 
of himself. — Christ did not work for a " generation," 
but for all men through all time. Christ did not " re- 
vive an obsolete function," he consummated the pur- 
pose of a prefigurative office. 

III. Page 31. 

" Now under which form did Christ propose to 
revive it (the ancient theocracy) ? The vision of 
universal monarchy which he saw in the desert 
suggests the answer. He conceived the theocracy 
restored as it had been in the time of David, with 
a visible monarch at its head, and that monarch 
himself." 



330 ECCE DEUS. 

Was it merely a conception ("he conceived"), or 
was it the carrying out of an eternal purpose? Did 
Christ come with a plan or without a plan ? If with 
a plan, when was that plan formed ? This brings up 
the mystery of the incarnation, the non-recognition of 
which is the cardinal error of the book. Is there not 
some confusion of terms in the latter part of the sen- 
tence just cited? How can a man be at the head of 
a GW-cracy? The word " representatively" may be 
suggested ; but in so far as there is any distinctive 
value in a theocracy, that value is diminished by any 
qualifying term whatsoever. The Jewish world had 
already passed through what may be designated a 
representative theocracy ; and if Christ came merely 
to reproduce this idea (which the perversity of the 
Jews caused to be a failure), replacing David's name 
with his own, wherein was the value of his service? 
When the author of Ecce Homo speaks of Christ's 
being the visible head of the theocracy, has he suf- 
ficiently considered the meaning of Jesus Christ's 
declaration to Philip, " He that hath seen me hath 
see7i the Father"? 

IV. Page 33. 

" He saw that he must lead a life altogether dif- 
ferent from that of David ; that the pictures drawn 
by the prophets of an ideal Jewish king were col- 
ored by the manners of the times in which they had 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 331 

lived ; that those pictures bore indeed a certain 
resemblance to the truth, but that the work before 
him was far more complicated and more delicate 
than the wisest prophet had suspected." 

From this representation it might be inferred that 
Christ began his work in a kind of mental vacancy, 
and waited to observe the current of thoughts and 
events around him before committing himself to any 
publicly avowed policy. He came, it would appear, 
to this conclusion while " meditating upon his mission 
in the desert." This view of the case is irreconcila- 
bly inconsistent with the mystery of the incarnation. 
It would suit very well the case of a fanatic who had 
suddenly conceived the insane idea of embodying the 
features of the predicted " ideal Jewish king," and 
who was watching an opportunity for self-disclosure 
in this novel and critical character ; but it signally 
fails to meet the necessary idea of the incarnation, — 
namely, the idea of anterior purpose and arrangement. 
Could a man begotten of the Holy Ghost find himself 
in the dubiety necessitated by the above suggestion ? 
Again it may be asked, Did Jesus Christ come with a 
plan or without a plan? 

V. Page 34. 

"It is said that when Jesus Christ called himself 
a King, he was speaking figuratively, and that by 
'King' he meant, as some say, God, as others, a 



332 ECCE DEUS. 

wise man and teacher of morality, but that the 
Jews persisted in understanding the expression 
literally." 

Christ employed the term "King" in its right 
sense. If the Jews by virtually deposing God had 
come to have low and vicious, or carnal and grovel- 
ling notions of royalty, that was no reason why Christ 
should not restore an abused term to its right appli- 
cation ; on the other hand, it was in perfect harmony 
with the genius of his mission that he should recover 
perverted terms to right uses as well as restore fallen 
men. He came to seek and to save all that was lost. 
— King is a divine designation, and can be employed 
among men only as a convenient accommodation of 
what does not belong to them. 

VI. Pages 38, 39. 

u Christ announced the restoration of the Davidic 
monarchy, and presented himself to the nation as 
their King, yet, when we compare the position he 
assumed with that of an ancient Jewish king, we 
fail to find any point of resemblance." 

Did Jesus Christ announce the restoration of the 
Davidic monarchy? Was not the Davidic monarchy, 
so far as it was untainted by human guilt, or unen- 
feebled by human infirmity, the prefiguration — very 
shadowy and incomplete, indeed — of one aspect of 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO. 333 

his own? The author seems to have inverted the 
relation between David and Christ, and to have over- 
looked the typical aspect of pre-Christian history. 
The very fact that " we fail to find any point of 
resemblance " between Christ and an ancient Jewish 
king, throws us back for our analogies beyond the 
older royalty, and compels us to find them in traits 
of government and purpose which lie beyond the 
merely political horizon. Christ took the appellation 
" King," not from the man, but from the function. 
When did Christ announce the restoration of the 
Davidic monarchy? If the facts contradict the theo- 
ry, what confidence can be placed in the theorist? 

VII. Page 50. 

Christ " did not work his way to royalty, but 
simply said to all men, 4 1 am your King.' He did 
not struggle forward to a position in which he 
could found a new state, but simply founded it." 

This ignores the doctrine of Jesus Christ's pre- 
existence. He had been working his way by all 
preliminary dispensations. Aught of suddenness or 
unpreparedness which appears in the life of Christ 
must be accounted for on the people's side, and not 
by immaturity of plan or vacillation of purpose on 
the part of Christ. — " Simply founded it;" — quite 
so ; but why do not other men " simply found " a 



334 ECCE DEUS. 

monarchy with the same ease? God "simply" made 
the heavens and the earth; "simply" said, "Let 
there be light ; " in the same way, did not Jesus 
Christ " simply found " his monarchy? 

VIII. Page 55- 
" Men could approach near to him, could eat 
and drink with him, could listen to his talk, and 
ask him questions ; and they found him not acces- 
sible only, but warm-hearted, and not occupied so 
much with his own plans that he could not attend 
to a case of distress or mental perplexity." 

To " attend to a case of distress or mental per- 
plexity" was an essential part of "his own plans." 
He came for the very purpose. He had no " plans" 
inconsistent with such attention. Attending to a case 
of distress or mental perplexity is not a circumstance 
to be separated from his plans, or to be regarded as 
merely collateral, but as being the great object of his 
incarnation. It is to be particularly noted that while 
every man's "distress or mental perplexity" came 
within the range of his power, his own " distress and 
perplexity" were beyond the reach of all human sym- 
pathy and aid. He suffered alone, trod the wine- 
press alone. 

IX. Page 55. 

" This temperance in the use of supernatural 
power is the masterpiece of Christ." 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 335 

The Jews had long and justly suffered from super- 
natural power. Not to speak of anything further, 
their political position in the days of Jesus Christ 
was one of deep dishonor and shame. They required, 
had they but known the day of their visitation, the 
very aspect of divine power which Christ distinc- 
tively revealed, as has been shown in the preceding 
pages, power not destructive, but constructive. " To 
save," was Christ's object. 

X. Page 61. 

" As the new theocracy was to be the counter- 
part of the old," &c. 

Another inversion of relations. The old theocratic 
form was a prefiguration of the new, not the new a 
mere counterpart of the old. There had been a 
prophetic element in all history, a typical element in 
all teaching, and an acknowledged incompleteness in 
all legislation : what was the meaning of symbol and 
fragment? The law came by the servant, grace and 
truth could come only by the Son. 

XI. Page 64. 

" We arrive, therefore, at the first distinguishing 
characteristic of the society into which Christ called 
men. It was a society whose rules were enforced 
by no punishments. The ancient Israelite who 
practised idolatry was stoned to death, but the 



336 ECCE DEUS. 

Christian who sacrificed to the genius of Caesar 
could suffer nothing but exclusion from the society, 
and this in times of persecution was in its im- 
mediate effects of the nature rather of a reward 
than of a punishment," 

Punishment is to be estimated by the nature of 
the society from which the offender has been ex- 
cluded. Exclusion from a mere political union may 
be a very trivial affair. But as, according to the 
author's own showing, Christ's society was a the- 
ocracy, how could any punishment be greater than 
the very punishment which he describes as being, 
under certain circumstances, somewhat of the nature 
of a reward? To be excluded from the GW-cracy, 
how tremendous a punishment ! A punishment, too, 
singularly in harmony with the spiritual character 
of the society. What is a storm of mere thunder 
and lightning, compared with the faintest frown 
that darkens the brow of troubled love? We find 
precisely the same principle in the Judgment. There 
are no such external forms of punishment as we as- 
sociate with the infliction of penalty, — simply a 
" going away," a turning of the back on the light, 
an exclusion from the theocracy ! The author's 
argument, moreover, is limited to " the immediate 
effects" of this exclusion, a most unsatisfactory 
method of stating the case ; for in all ?noral transac- 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 337 

tions the consequences are co-ordinate with the dura- 
tion of the actor. We are not sure either, that the 
word " immediate " is well chosen ; if it is intended 
to mean external, it may be appropriate, but surely 
the heart of the excluded man would feel an " im- 
mediate " vacancy, an indescribable poverty, and a 
terrible sense of loneliness. 

XII. Page 6s. 

" Christ himself never ceased to feel keenly as a 
patriot." 

Where is the proof that he ever felt " keenly as a 
patriot"? Whatever may have been his personal 
patriotism, he obliterated, in view of the highest 
purposes, all ethnic distinctions. Without destroying 
the special characteristics of patriotism, he carried 
patriotic heroism up to philanthropy. Jesus Christ 
aimed at the enlargement, as well as the purification, 
of human ideas, so that the man who began with a 
city ended with the world. Apart from the Cross, 
old nationalities remain ; but when men are crucified 
with Christ, they are denizens of all nations. When 
they are " lifted up " with him, " all men come " unto 
them. " Strangers and foreigners " are absorbed in 
" the whole family" named in and centralized by 
" the Son in the Father's house." 
*5 



338 ECCE DEUS. 

XIII. Page 69. 

" To obey John's call was easy ; it involved noth- 
ing beyond submission to a ceremony ; and when 
the prophet had acquired a certain amount of 
credit, no doubt it became the fashion to receive 
baptism from him." 

To " obey " any call requires faith ; and to sub- 
mit to any ceremony implies want. This, notwith- 
standing hypocrites who make an investment of 
their so-called obediences and submissions. 

XIV. Page 82. 

a We ought to be just as tolerant of an imperfect 
creed as we are of an imperfect practice." 

The author, as we have read him, here does him- 
self an injustice. The term "imperfect" seems to 
be used in this sentence and in the context in two 
senses : imperfection of creed may mean simply in- 
completeness, but an " imperfect practice " may mean 
viciousness. This latter seems to be the author's 
meaning, for he has just been writing of " some very 
unchristian vices." Now we may be tolerant of in- 
completeness and weakness (seeing we are all in- 
complete and weak), yet we are not called upon to 
be tolerant to vice, — a fact we need not have pointed 
out but for the ambiguity of the term " imperfect." 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 339 

XV. Pages 86, 87. 

" Now of these prophets Christ was distinctly 
one and the greatest of all." 

Say rather that as they all prophesied of him, they 
are not to be mentioned comparatively with him. 
" Greatest" indicates degree, but what of the nature? 
Christ was not a prophet in the same sense that Eli- 
jah and Ezekiel and Daniel were prophets. As the 
author himself has well said — " How the truth came 
to the prophet he himself knew not ; " but Jesus 
Christ was the inspirer and the inspiration of the 
prophets: " they w r rote of me;" — he was himself 
the message, not merely a messenger. The monarch 
is never one of the heralds. 

XVI. Page 89. 

" We conclude that though it is alwa}^s easy for 
thoughtless men to be orthodox, yet to grasp with 
any strong practical apprehension the theology of 
Christ is a thing as hard to practise as his moral 
law." 

We cannot see the particular pertinence of the 
opinion that "it is always easy for thoughtless men 
to be orthodox ; " all things are equally easy to 
" thoughtless men ; " still it ought to be known that 
though some " thoughtless men " may be orthodox, 
yet all who are orthodox are not necessarily thought- 



34° ECCE DEUS. 

less men. Is it not unworthy of the subject to throw 
out insinuations as to the capacity or morality of 
opponents ? Then as to the doctrine : Why is the 
moral law of Jesus Christ hard to practise? Is it 
not because the heart is out of sympathy with his 
purposes? The light is not distressing to the healthy 
eye. Why should it be harder to do right than to 
do wrong? Jesus Christ says that his "yoke is 
easy and his burden is light." We cannot admit 
the difference which the author assumes between 
Christ's theology and Christ's moral law. Christ's 
moral law has no existence apart from his theology. 
The theology of Jesus Christ was the Fatherhood of 
God, and out of that great doctrine came all the prac- 
tical life which Christ preached and exemplified. 

XVII. Page 102. 

" It may seem to us that Socrates and Christ 
were in fact occupied in the same way ; certainly 
both lived in the midst of admiring disciples, whose 
minds and characters were formed by their words ; 
both discussed moral questions, the one with me- 
thodical reasoning as a Greek addressing Greeks, 
the other with the authoritative tone and earnestness 
of a Jew." 

In the twelfth chapter we have already adverted 
to the value of " the authoritative tone and earnest- 
ness of a Jew." If the author's judgment be correct, 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO. 34I 

then we may well prefer "methodical reasoning" to 
an " authoritative tone/' To put Socrates and Christ 
together in this manner is simply to ignore Christ's 
own declaration of divine origin and power. The 
words of Jesus Christ, as reported by those who 
heard them, are before us, and they profess to be 
marked, not by the authoritative tone and earnest- 
ness of a Jew, but by the authoritative tone and 
earnestness of the Son of Man and Son of God. 
This is their own distinct profession, — not matter 
of inference, but of positive and literal claim. The 
author either believes Christ's words or he does not 
believe them ; if he believes them, then he ought 
not to put Socrates and Christ together as he has 
done ; if he does not believe them, then Christ is 
not the good man whom he has endeavored to 
make him out to be. From our point of view, it 
is a poor and dishonoring thing to say of the Son 
of God that he spoke with " the authoritative tone 
and earnestness of a Jew." His enemies, who had 
daily opportunity of listening to the most authorita- 
tive and dogmatic teachers in the world, confessed 
that " never man spake like this man," a circum- 
stance which alone would warrant the inference that 
there was a life and a power in his communica- 
tions which could not be accounted for by " the 
authoritative tone and earnestness of a Jew." 



34-2 ECCE DEUS. 

XVIII. Page 107. 
" Socrates holds his place in history by his 
thoughts and not by his life, Christ by his life 
and not by his thoughts." 

In reply we venture to say — incorrect. The vital 
difference between Christ and all other teachers is 
this — the perfect identity of his life and thoughts. 
This consistency alone puts him beyond the range 
of comparison with any other man. We often find 
noble thoughts associated with imperfect morality, 
and spotless morality may be found detached from 
any marked power of thought; but in Christ the 
consistency was perfect — a consistency which is it- 
self one of the clearest arguments in favor of his 
Godhead. All men are self-discrepant; Jesus Christ 
was self-consistent. 

XIX. Page 119. 
" This monarchy was essentially despotic, and 
might, in spite of the goodness of the sovereign, 
have had some mischievous consequences, if he had 
remained too long among his subjects, and if his 
dictation had descended too much into particulars." 

A theocracy must be despotic. The sovereign and 
the monarchy in such a case are inseparable. The 
sovereign of a theocracy must be good — ("in spite 
of the goodness of the sovereign ") — but how he 
can " remain too long among his subjects " does not 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO. 343 

appear. The author's view represents Christ rather 
as a shrewd propagandist than as the Son of God. 
In all these remarks the author appears to have 
overlooked the fact that Christ came not for a plan, 
but with a plan. If he came without a plan, his 
" authoritative tone " would hardly stand him in good 
stead ; and if he came with a plan, he must have 
had something more than the " earnestness of a 
Jew." With respect to the possibility of his " re- 
maining too long," it is forgotten, apparently, that 
from the beginning he spoke of his " hour." The 
time was fixed. 

XX. Page 167. 

" This third feeling is the love, not of the race 
nor of the individual ; it is the love, not of all men, 
nor yet of every man, but of the man in every 
man." 

Say, rather, of the God in every man. The author 
has well pointed out on another page that the normal 
condition of society in the earliest ages was that of 
mutual enmity. We honor man most when we see 
most of God in him. The author has forcibly shown 
that the idea of immortality gave a new view of 
injustice and suffering by opening up possibilities 
of retribution which could not have existed in the 
limited term of human life on the earth ; so, on the 
same principle, it may be pointed out that in pro- 



344 ECCE DEUS. 

portion as man recognizes the divine image in man, 
will he take an enlightened interest in himself and 
in the destinies of the race. Man has everything to 
fear from an atheistic view of his own personality 
and destiny. It is the divine element that gives man 
his i ight position. 

XXI. Page 168. 
" We save a man from drowning, whether he is 
amiable or the contrary, and we should consider it 
right to do so, even though we knew him to be a 
very great criminal, simply because he is a man." 

True ; but is not this a commonplace ? And in so 
far as it is valuable, is it not valuable by reason of 
something deeper than is expressed? We save a 
horse from drowning, whether he is vicious, or the 
contrary, and we should consider it right to do so 
even though we knew him to have thrown his last 
rider (and even though that rider be our best friend), 
simply because he is a horse. What then? Evi- 
dently there is a law of salvation a7nong men. 
Anything is saved in proportion to its real or sup- 
posed value to ??ian. Who would care to save a 
straw in comparison to saving a letter ? Who would 
risk his life for a floating chip, yet who would not 
make strenuous endeavors to recover a note-book 
which had dropped into the river? If we had to 
make our choice between saving a man or a horse 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 345 

from drowning, wo should of course elect to save the 
man, because of his rank in creation. But take the 
question upon practical grounds. It is observed, for 
example, that two human beings are drowning ; the 
observer instantly desires their salvation on the simple 
ground of common humanity ; but tell the observer 
that one of the human beings is his own brother, and 
instantly we shall have a modification of the principle 
laid down in quotation 21st. But tell the observer 
that it is not his brother, but his own child, and then 
say for whom he will make the most perilous and 
costly attempts at restoration? The observer would 
have done much to rescue another man's child, but 
what effort would he spare when his own son was 
in question? This may be called selfishness, yet 
there may not be a particle of selfishness in it. Men 
would miss the deepest and grandest views of human 
nature if it were not for the love they bear to their 
own offspring. When the parent sees his own child 
drowning he comes to know something of God's feel- 
ing in respect to the salvation of men. Man is 
God's child, and " like as a father pitieth his chil- 
dren, so the Lord pitieth" his suffering child. While, 
therefore, the above quotation is literally correct in 
principle, it gives a very inadequate view of the doc- 
trine of human salvation. 
15* 



346 ECCE DEUS. 

XXII. Page 182. 

The author represents " the intellectual man " as 
asking, " What has Christianity added to our theo- 
retic knowledge of morality? It may have made 
men practically more moral, but has it added any- 
thing to Aristotle's ethics ? " 

Yes ; it may be replied in addition to the answer 
which the author himself has given, It has added 
God to them. Morality is no longer philosophical, 
it is theological. Aristotle regarded ethics as a sub- 
division of political science ; but in the very midst 
of his great Ethical Discourse, Jesus Christ said, " Be 
ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is "per- 
fect." Aristotle conducted his ethical student from 
deTvoTTjg to cpgoprjaig ; Christ leads his disciples from 
calculations of chances to fellowship with the very 
nature of God. In his ethical discussions Aristotle 
ignores any connection between his subject and an 
ideal or absolute Good ; he rather seems to proceed 
upon the principle laid down by Meno, " that a 
man's virtue consists in his being competent to man- 
age the affairs of the state, and, managing them, to 
do good to its friends, evil to its enemies, and to 
take care that he suffers himself nothing of that 
kind ; " on the other hand, as we have pointed out 
before, Christ makes morality the practical side of 
theology : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God . . . 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 347 

and thou shalt love thy neighbor." Aristotle's mas- 
ter discussed the question of virtue on a much higher 
basis. Plato lays it down that virtue cannot be 
taught, and argues that it is not hereditary, else 
Themistocles, Thucydides, and other virtuous men, 
would have had sons worthy of themselves ; and 
adopts the conclusion, that as virtue can neither come 
by nature nor be taught, that it is bestowed upon cer- 
tain men by " divine fate." This is good so far, at 
least, as it recognizes a divine element in virtue, for 
atheism is corrupt throughout — a fool's theology — 
a madman's morality ! We cannot see the appropri- 
ateness of the author's remark, that " Christianity has 
no ambition to invade the provinces of the moralist 
or the casuist." (P. 182.) Christianity not only in- 
vades them, but revolutionizes them, breaks up their 
very foundations, and consumes their sophistical quib- 
bling and refinements. Bad morality or casuistry 
cannot be tolerated by Jesus Christ ; how, then, 
can Christianity be said not to invade the province 
of either ? If it gives no systematic form, it gives the 
inspiring life. 

XXIII. Page 198. 

" It was the inspiration, the law-making power, 
that gave Christ and his disciples courage to shake 
themselves free from the fetters even of a divine 
law." 



348 ECCE DEUS. 

This " law-making power " is to be guarded very 
watchfully. Though every man may be a law unto 
himself, yet there must be a common law to which 
individual legislators should appeal. Euthyphron de 
fined holiness to be " that which is pleasing to the 
gods," but Socrates soon brought him to confess that 
the gods themselves were divided about " things pleas- 
ing " and u things not pleasing ; " that what was pleas- 
ing to Jupiter might be odious to Saturn, what was 
pleasing to Vulcan might be odious to Juno. We 
should find much of the same difficulty among the 
law-makers that Plato thus found among the gods, 
in the absence of common law. We understand that 
law to be given in the Christian writings. On all 
questions in casuistry the utmost freedom of personal 
legislation is allowed ; but on all questions of prin- 
ciple the words of the Son of God are final. This 
is the generally-accepted creed of the orthodox : are 
they " thoughtless men"? With regard to " shaking 
themselves free from the fetters even of a divine law," 
it may be well to note that even in matters of tem- 
porary regulation men no more " shake themselves 
free from the fetters of divine law " than a man shakes 
himself free from the fetters of his first garments. 
The man grows out of them ; but because he has 
become too large for a particular set of garments, 
it does not follow that therefore he must remain 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 349 

naked ever after. It should be noted, too, that he 
who gave the law gave also the capacity of growth ; 
and as men grow by the favor of the legislator, it 
may be possible to find some more grateful, not to 
say more accurate, expression than " shaking them- 
selves free from the fetters even of a divine law." 
The expression gives the idea of bondage, not of 
adaptation ; of despotism on the part of God, not 
of temporary incapacity on the part of man. 

XXIV. Pages 202, 203. 

" It may sometimes strike us that the time which 
he devoted to acts of beneficence and the relief of 
ordinary physical evils might have been given to 
works more permanently beneficial to the race. . . . 
He might have left to all subsequent ages more 
instruction if he had bestowed less time upon di- 
minishing slightly the mass of evil around him, and 
lengthening by a span the short lives of the genera- 
tion in the midst of which he lived." 

There is more in this, we imagine, than, as the 
author suggests, " that Christ merely reduced to 
practice his own principle" u of a positive rather 
than a negative service of man" (p. 203). Jesus 
Christ never relieved physical diseases without point- 
ing out, by the very condition required, that they 
were the result of moral causes. He saw more than 
the leprosy on the body ; he saw the deadly ulcer 



35° 



ECCE DEUS. 



on the soul. Not only so, he had readier access to 
the body than to the spirit, and so, as we have had 
repeated occasion to say, he began at the most ac- 
cessible point, and worked into the deeper nature. 
We conceive, therefore, that the author's argument 
is untenable. As to the value of affirmative service 
there cannot be two opinions, but affirmative service 
is not confined to the body ; an idea is certainly of 
greater value than a restored hand, but if the suf- 
ferer refused permission to his soul, and could barely 
exercise faith enough to bring his body into a right 
relation to Jesus Christ, the Healer could begin only 
on the offered terms, yet with the hope that the 
healed hand might prepare the way for the healing 
of the moral nature. We do not consider the au- 
thor as suggesting to Jesus Christ that he did not 
make the best use of his time ; the author would 
undoubtedly shrink from so immodest (not to say 
profane) a protrusion of his own wisdom ; he is, as 
we take it, simply expressing the feeling of a reader 
who looks at Christ's life from a purely human 

stand-point. 

XXV. Page 207. 
"The enthusiasm of humanity in Christians is not 
only their supreme, but their only law." 

This is bold, certainly; on what proof does it rest? 
Allowing this to be precisely as the author puts it, why 
should the effect be dissociated from the cause ? Love 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 35I 

of man is put by Jesus Christ as the consequent of love 
of God — the enthusiasm of God first, then the enthu- 
siasm of humanity. Who ever knew anything of the 
enthusiasm of humanity, in its true sense, until Christ 
revealed the Father? " The age of humanity did not 
begin till after Christianity." {Lnt7iardt.} Through- 
out the teaching of Jesus Christ the paternal idea 
runs as a stream of life ; it is because men are the 
children of one Father that they are related to one 
another. The Christian writings on this subject seem 
to reveal two things: (i) That there is a spurious 
enthusiasm of humanity, and (2) that the true en- 
thusiasm of humanity is inseparable from a filial 
love of God. There is not only an enthusiasm of 
humanity, but there is a fanaticism of humanity. 
Sympathy with God is the life of the former. Jesus 
Christ never could have been Son of Man if he had 
not first been Son of God; — why should we not 
follow his law and development of enthusiasm? 
He proceeded from the divine to the human; can 
we proceed by a better way? It is affecting, and 
not a little instructive, to watch how he retires 
again and again from the multitude, that he may 
renew his enthusiasm of humanity by secret com- 
munion with God. It will be admitted that the 
enthusiasm of humanity never reached such perfect- 
ness and intensity as in Jesus Christ ; but how did 



352 ECCE DEUS. 

he repair the daily exhaustion which it involved? 
Do not his nights of prayer best explain his days 
of toil? Does not his constant reference to his 
Father's will show that the law-making power in 
man is truthful and safe only so long as it renews 
itself at the divine source? 

XXVI. Page 211. 

" Prevention is better than cure, and it is now 
clear to all that a large part of human suffering is 
preventable by improved social arrangements." 

True ; but this is in perfect harmony with the 
morality of Christ. Is there not, however, a good 
deal of confusion in the use of the terms " preven- 
tion" and " preventible " ? We cannot "prevent" 
the great fundamental fact in human history, viz., 
the Fall. We have to work upon a "lost" human- 
ity, therefore " prevention " has no part whatever 
in the business of salvation. Prevention can be ap- 
plied only to details, and so far its application is 
undoubtedly useful. Had we to map out a course 
for pristine man, we should probably be no wiser 
than God himself, but begin precisely where he be- 
gan ; that is to say, at prevention. It is a fact not 
sufficiently considered, that prevention was actually 
tried in Eden, and failed; yet moralists and econo- 
mists bring up the idea of prevention as if it had not 
dawned on mortal genius until these latter days ! 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO. 353 

XXVII. Page 218. 

" And if the progress of science and civilization 
has put into our hands the means of benefiting our 
kind more and more comprehensively than the first 
Christians could hope to do — if, instead of undoing 
a little harm, and comforting a few unfortunates, we 
have the means of averting countless misfortunes 
and raising, by the right employment of our knowl- 
edge and power of contrivance, the general standard 
of happiness — we are not to inquire whether the 
New Testament commands us to use these means, 
but whether the spirit of humanity commands it." 

The great, the inexcusable error in this statement 
is the implication, that possibly the New Testament 
may be less philanthropic than u the spirit of human- 
ity ," and this we take to be an insult to the Son of 
man. The author apparently ignores the fact that 
Christianity proposes to deal with a sick man, not 
with a healthy man ; " they that be whole need not 
a physician ; " Jesus Christ repeatedly said that he 
came to call sinners, and not the righteous, to repent- 
ance — that he came to seek and to save that which 
was lost. He did not come with a theory of preven- 
tion, but with a scheme of salvation ; he did not 
propose to " comfort a few unfortunates," but to save 
the world. What is the use of a theory of prevention 
in a churchyard, so far as the dead are concerned? 
Weeds may be prevented growing on the graves, but 



354 ECCE DEUS. 

of what advantage is this to those who are in the 
graves? Resurrection, not prevention, alone can 
benefit the dead. The author appears to ignore 
not only the statements of revelation, but the testi- 
mony of consciousness as to the moral condition of 
human nature, and to be more concerned for a law 
of philanthropy which will " avert countless misfor- 
tunes" than for a salvation which encompasses the 
whole case. The physician is not called upon to 
decide between prevention and cure ; the patient is 
sick, and must be cured if possible. Jesus Christ 
had not to consider the case of unfallen beings, but 
of men who had lost their moral status. " Science 
and civilization " have enabled us to decorate the 
sick man's room, and to make all outward circum- 
stances more pleasant to him, but not to touch his 
disease. If the New Testament, recognizing the 
urgency of the case, does not dwell upon mere pre- 
ventives, but points at once to the seat of the mal- 
ady, and indicates the only possible restoratives, who 
shall say that it is deficient in "the spirit of hu- 
manity " ? 

It would be a great mistake to imagine that the 
pre-Christian philosophies troubled themselves even 
to " undo a little harm and comfort a few unfortu- 
nates," much less to " avert countless misfortunes." 
On this point the words of Baron Macaulay are well 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 355 

worth repeated perusal. " The ancient philosophy 
disdained to be useful, and was content to be sta- 
tionary. It dealt largely in theories of moral per- 
fection, which were so sublime that they never could 
be more than theories ; in attempts to solve insoluble 
enigmas ; in exhortations to the attainment of unat- 
tainable frames of mind. It could not condescend 
to the humble office of ministering to the comfort 
of human beings. All the schools contemned that 
office as degrading, some censured it as immoral. 
Once, indeed, Posidonius, a distinguished writer of 
the age of Cicero and Caesar, so far forgot himself as 
to enumerate, among the humbler blessings which 
mankind owed to philosophy, the discovery of the 
principle of the arch, and the introduction of the use 
of metals. This eulogy was considered as an affront, 
and was taken up with proper spirit. Seneca vehe- 
mently disclaims these insulting compliments. Phi- 
losophy, according to him, has nothing to do with 
teaching men to rear arched roofs over their heads. 
The true philosopher does not care whether he has 
an arched roof or any roof. Philosophy has nothing 
to do with teaching men the uses of metals. She 
teaches us to be independent of all material sub- 
stances, of all mechanical contrivances. The wise 
man lives according to nature. Instead of attempt- 
ing to add to the physical comforts of his species, he 



356 ECCE DEUS. 

regrets that his lot was not cast in that golden age 
when the human race had no protection against the 
cold but the skins of wild beasts, no screen from the 
sun but a cavern. To impute to such a man any 
share in the invention or improvement of a plough, a 
ship, or a mill, is an insult. ' In my own time,' 
says Seneca, ' there have been inventions of this 
sort, transparent windows, tubes for diffusing warmth 
equally through all parts of a building, short-hand 
which has been carried to such perfection, that a 
writer can keep pace with the most rapid speaker. 
But the inventing of such things is drudgery for the 
lowest slaves ; philosophy lies deeper. It is not her 
office to teach men how to use their hands ; the object 
of her lessons is to form the soul. Non est, inquam, 
instrumentorum ad usus necessarios opifex.' " * So 
much for the ancient philosophy, and we very much 
doubt whether what the author of Ecce Homo calls 
" the blessed light of science" (p. 353) is not likely, 
if left to itself, to do as much to favor a gross and 
atheistic materialism as the philosophy of Seneca 
favored the cant of a useless and selfish sentimental- 
ity. Christianity occupies an independent position. 
Its watchwords are Glory to God and Good-will 
toward — men the devotional and the useful — the 
highest love of the soul turned to the most practical 
service of man. 

* Essay on Lord Bacon. 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 35'/ 

In reading Ecce Homo our chief dissatisfaction 
arose from the fact that the author did not recognize 
the mystery of the Incarnation. Although he speaks 
on the second page of " the predestined Founder," 
yet the whole argument of the book is constructed 
without any reference to the pre-incarnate life of 
Christ, a life to which Christ himself makes repeated 
allusion, in his prayers especially. The first sentence 
in Ecce Homo illustrates this — "The Christian 
Church sprang from a movement which was not 
begun by Christ." In the very lowest and weakest 
possible sense, if in any sense at all, can this be true, 
but according to a complete collation of the facts it is 
false. The Christian writings give us to understand 
that before the world began God had a great purpose 
in relation to the history of man, and that the out- 
working of that purpose underlay and interpenetrated 
all human history. There may be influence without 
manifestation. Christ was as able to conduct the 
movement anterior to his Incarnation, as he is now 
able (in the author's own words) to " visit his people 
for the future only in refreshing inspirations and great 
acts of providential justice" (p. 119). If he can 
return, could he not precede? By regarding the 
Incarnation as part of a continuous development of 
a divine purpose we are saved from the unprofitable 
task of studying an unconnected page or a detached 



358 ECCE DEUS. 

limb, and are also saved from the perils of detail by 
having to work on a vast body of evidence which is 
homogeneous, cumulative, and self-explanatory. From 
this point of view we escape the pain of regarding 
Christ as being hesitant or uncertain in his move- 
ments ; and the words and actions which transcend 
our plane of criticism or comprehension are referable 
to the mysteriousness of his descent or the vastness 
of a design which can be only fractionally disclosed. 
It may be answered that the author did not intend to 
traverse so wide a ground as that which is opened by 
the question of Jesus Christ's pre-existence : this plea, 
however, is futile, for though he might not be pre- 
pared to traverse the ground, he was not at liberty to 
ignore the fact. He was not called upon to write a 
theological treatise, but he was called upon to recog- 
nize the clear and repeated declarations of Jesus 
Christ as to his procession from the Father. Given a 
Jew who unexpectedly took upon himself to do what 
Christ did, and we shall have one line of interpreta- 
tion and judgment ; but given the Son of God who 
from unbeginning time determined to do a certain 
work upon the earth, and we shall have a line of 
interpretation and judgment peculiar to itself. Is 
there no difference between the start-points? No 
author is at liberty to join Christ as " simply a young 
man of promise, popular with those who knew him, 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 359 

and appearing to enjoy the Divine favor." If he does 
so " place himself in imagination," he will be in 
danger of bending the facts to the theory, instead of 
taking the mould of the theory from the facts. We 
submit with all due deference that while the author 
of Ecce Homo was at liberty to determine the point 
from which his " survey " should be taken, he was 
bound to remember that there were circumstances 
narrated in the very documents out of which he gets 
his facts which give significance to every phase of 
Christ's life, and without which that life is incongru- 
ous as a narrative, and powerless as a redemption. 
The gardener is at liberty to view the earth in patches 
and neatly enclosed fractions, but the astronomer must 
view it as part of a system ; and the danger to which 
some inquirers are exposed, and into which we believe 
the author of Ecce Homo has fallen, is that of mis- 
taking gardening for astronomy. Look at Christ as 
" simply a young man of promise," and then regard 
him as begotten of the Holy Ghost, and the most 
contrary conclusions will be reached. In the one 
case, he will come up out of the earth with all its 
ignorance and imperfection ; in the other, he will 
descend upon it from heaven with a divine purpose to 
reveal and establish. Now what is Christ's own testi- 
mony? — "I proceeded forth and came from God; 
neither came I of myself, but he sent me." We are 



360 ECCE DEUS. 

therefore not at liberty to examine the life of such a 
speaker, as though he had appeared under the usual 
conditions of human existence. Accepting this ac- 
count as correct, the mission of such a man must be 
fundamental ; his most emphatic words will be une- 
qual to the expression of all his thought, and his 
morality will be marked by characteristics of its own. 
Critics who have been able to hold equal fellowship 
with Plato and Aristotle, Socrates and Cicero, will 
realize the impassable distance which separates the 
earthly from the heavenly ; they will feel the " aston- 
ishment " which filled the doctors in the Temple, and 
even when unwilling to submit they will feel unable 
to reply. 

It may be suggested that the author does not accept 
the Christian writings in their entirety. Then he was 
bound, we submit, to indicate his principle of eclec- 
ticism. He quotes largely from the first three Gos- 
pels, and makes one or two reserved references to the 
fourth. Now by what law does he make choice? If 
the writings are authoritative on points of fact, wherein 
are they defective on points of doctrine? Without 
pressing him to an answer, we do protest against 
being invited to conduct an inquiry upon unequal 
terms. Before we start we must know each other's 
canons of criticism, and be agreed on common prin- 
ciples of interpretation ; at all events we must know 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON •* ECCE HOMO." 361 

the precise sphere of inquiry — how much is included, 
how much is rejected. We cannot, if the investiga- 
tion is to be mutual, allow the author to indorse or 
invalidate documents without distinctly telling us on 
what principle he is proceeding. 

The author's proposal to discuss the morality in 
contradistinction to the theology of Jesus Christ, we 
cannot but regard as unsatisfactory. Are the morality 
and the theology separable? If for the sake of con- 
venience a division be made, we submit that the 
theology should stand first, for the sufficient reason 
that it lies at the basis of the morality. By theology, 
as used in this connection, cannot of course be meant 
the formal science which now passes under that 
name (a science which has probably originated three 
fourths of the speculative scepticism of the age), but 
the idea of the Father which was ever present to 
the mind of Jesus Christ, and which regulated the 
whole course and tone of his teaching. Morality was 
not discussed by Jesus Christ as it was discussed by 
Aristotle, and we still maintain, as was stated in the 
thirteenth chapter, that the difference between Aris- 
totle's teaching and Christ's teaching is the difference 
between an Investigation and a Revelation. By re- 
garding Jesus Christ's morality as the practical side of 
his theology, we escape the errors into which, as it 
appears to us, the author has fallen respecting the 
16 



362 ECCE DEUS. 

incompleteness of Christ's moral teaching. When 
man's ideas of God are rectified and enlarged, his ideas 
of practical life will become correspondingly pure and 
noble. In other words, w^hen a man loves God, he 
will love his brother also, but not until then : as Christ 
puts it, the question is one of cause and effect ; and 
though he might have made a more imposing exhibi- 
tion of ethical speculation and instruction, so far as 
mere words are concerned, yet, according to his idea 
of the Father, he would have been working at the 
wrong end, coloring the fruit from the outside instead 
of renewing and strengthening the root, merely re- 
moving withered leaves instead of vitalizing the 
juices. According to the nature of the fall must be 
the nature of the restoration : the fail was between 
man and God, not between man and man ; so the 
restoration must be towards God, and the best proof 
of its reality will be found in constant exhibitions of 
good-will towards men. It may be true, as the author 
of Ecce Homo forcibly says, that " the most lost cynic 
will get a new heart by learning thoroughly to believe 
in the virtue of one man" (p. 177), but, if compari- 
sons in truth be allowed, it is more deeply and sub- 
limely true that man can never become a cynic until 
he has lost the right idea of God. The Fatherhood 
of God is the strongest defence againt cynicism. Re- 
verting to the Fall, as the true start-point from which 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO," 363 

to view all proposed remedial systems, it is to be noted 
as a singular fact that the Fall did not take place in 
an advanced condition of society, when civilization 
had effeminated manhood, or when bad management 
had disorganized social relations ; it took place before 
a single city was built, before human society, as it is 
now understood, was founded ; it was not a failure in 
speculative ethics, it was simply a misunderstanding 
of God — a lowering of his authority — a miscon- 
ception of his nature — and thus a terrible immoral- 
ity. It is important to remember this, because from 
the prevention theory it might be inferred that human 
depravity was simply a question of adulterated food, 
bad drainage, overcrowded dwellings, and impure air. 
It is forgotten that not one of these unfavorable condi- 
tions existed in the days of Adam and Eve. Nature 
was in its purest state, and yet, unless we throw the 
sacred writings out of court, the Fall took place amid 
the very brightness and beauty of the garden of Eden. 
So that, if the prevention theorists were so far to suc- 
ceed in their work as actually to get back to the pure 
food, the pure air, and the pure light of Paradise, they 
would still have to grapple with a deeper problem 
than can be solved by negative philosophy. Tnat 
problem is the moral nature of ?nan. How can he 
retain his power to commit sin, but lose the disposi- 
tion? Does he need restraint or regeneration? We 



364 ECCE DEUS. 

are aware that these inquiries open upon a sphere of 
impenetrable mystery ; but we are also aware that to 
shirk them is not to escape difficulty. The choice is 
between the mystery j>f light and the mystery of dark- 
ness. Immediately before us is the fact that 7nan is 
not at rest; how can he recover his balance? By 
pure air, by good food, by ample dwelling-room? 
Where is the congruity between the question and the 
answer ? 

It has been urged that Ecce Homo is a fragment. 
A fragment of what? It may be a fragment of a 
larger work, but is not therefore of necessity a frag- 
ment of the life of Jesus Christ. If it has ignored, 
for all practical purposes, the interpretative value of 
the Incarnation, it is not a fragment ; it may be an 
unfinished theory, but not being of the nature of the 
integer, it is not, it cannot be, in the proper sense of 
the term, a fragment of the life of Christ. A man 
might write a treatise on astronomy, but if he began 
by declaring that the earth was the centre of the uni- 
verse, or that it described no orbit round the sun, he 
would not be allowed to shelter himself under the 
plea that his work was a fragment ; it might be a 
fragment of his manuscript, but viewed in the light 
of facts, it would not be, nor could it ever be made, a 
fragment of the geometry of creation. Ecce Homo 
treats Christ as if he had no ancestry ; fails to take 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON u ECCE HOMO." 365 

any account of Christ's own claim to pre-incarnate 
life, and ignores those peculiar conditions which are 
themselves the best explanation of the mysteries of 
his doctrine, and which, we venture to think, cannot 
be ignored without moving the whole life out of its 
plane, and so mistaking its fundamental and sovereign 
purpose. 

Not until the present writer had written thus far 
had he an opportunity of reading the Preface to the 
fifth edition of Ecce Homo. It is to be regretted, 
he ventures to think, that a portion of it was not 
given in the original Preface, particularly the follow- 
ing paragraph : " He was concerned with four writers 
who, in nearness to the events they record, and prob- 
able means of acquiring information, belong to the 
better class of historical witnesses, but whose veracity 
has been strongly impeached by critics, both on the 
ground of internal discrepancies, and of the intrinsic 
improbability of their story. Out of these four writers 
he desired, not to extract a life of Christ, not to find 
out all that can be known about him, but to form 
such a rudimentary conception of his general char- 
acter and objects as it may be possible to form while 
the vexed critical questions remain in abeyance. The 
detection of discrepancies in the documents establishes 
a certain degree of independence in them, and thus 
gives weight to their agreements ; in particular, the 



366 ECCE DEUS. 

wide divergence in tone and subject-matter of the 
fourth Gospel from the other three, affords a strong 
presumption in favor of all statements in which it 
coincides with them. The rudiment of certainty 
which the writer sought, he accordingly expected 
to find in the consent of all the witnesses. If the 
statements unanimously attested should prove numer- 
ous enough to afford any outline of Christ's life, how- 
ever meagre, he proposed to rest content with this." 
It is due to the author of Ecce Homo that he should 
thus be allowed, on the pages of his critic, to put his 
own case in his own way. No doubt a literary man 
may be at liberty to select a criterion by which to 
guide his inquiries, but how far he is at liberty to 
describe a book written on the above principle as 
"a Survey of the Life and Work of Jesus Christ," 
may be a question on which the author and the 
reader might differ. It would appear, too, that the 
author must have exceeded his own design, for 
certainly the twenty propositions which he deduces 
from Mark's Gospel include many of the "vexed 
critical questions" and "intrinsic improbabilities" 
which he wished to remain in abeyance, such as the 
power of forgiving sins, the working of miracles, the 
claim to be the Messiah, and the promise of the Holy 
Ghost. The author conceives himself to have found 
" the rudiment of certainty " when all the four 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 367 

evangelists agree in the same statement ; that is to 
say, if any incident or doctrine be found in all the 
four Gospels it may be accepted as a basis of argu- 
ment. This is an extraordinary canon in scriptural 
criticism ; it at once throws a degree of discredit upon 
each of the witnesses ; his testimony is not accepted 
until it is confirmed ; if one evangelist confirms it, it 
is not enough ; if two confirm the statement, the 
evidence is still incomplete ; all the four must agree, 
without " discrepancy " or " improbability," other- 
wise, "the rudiment of certainty" is not found. But 
this rule of criticism is either too great or too small. 
Why should four be the number of witnesses selected? 
What answer could be returned to the objector who 
carried the author's rule a little farther by rejecting 
the testimony of four writers, on the ground that all 
the eleven disciples should have written independent 
histories? If the question turn upon the number of 
witnesses, it is clear that after all we must get " the 
rudiment of certainty" out of the testimony of the 
minority ; and if out of the minority at all, why not 
out of the minority of those who have written, allow 
ing for such differences as must attach to individu- 
ality of mind and habits of observation ? And if the 
four witnesses agree in the twenty comprehensive 
propositions which have been deduced from Mark's 
Gospel, so comprehensive as to include almost the 



368 ECCE DEUS. 

whole of Christianity, why may they not have ar- 
ranged to palm off the story upon the world? But 
if it was impossible for them to have so agreed, why 
should their points of difference be points of doubt? 
On the author's principle, any four men may combine 
in the production of a book, and if they only take care 
to agree in their statements they may rely upon a 
general acceptance of their testimony. Is " the rudi- 
ment of certainty " not to be found by a higher 
method ? Is the higher appeal not to what is known 
of God, to human consciousness, and to the " fruits " 
of that which is spoken? And when these methods 
of judgment are exhausted, what if the supernatural 
should transcend reason and appeal to faith? What 
if the universe be larger than we had conceived? 
Four men undertake to write a life ; we are not aware 
who appointed them, or to what secret resource, if 
any, they had access ; we have the results of their 
labor before us; shall we reject one because he is a 
little more or less minute than the others? The 
author himself, under the influence of some such con- 
sideration as this inquiry suggests, seems to have 
modified the plan which he laid down with such 
precision, for he allows that " evidence inferior to the 
best may have very great probability, and there are 
certain obvious criteria by which this probability may 
be estimated." Certainly ; but if we accept a man** 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 369 

testimony when it agrees with the testimony of an- 
other man, is that not a reason for accepting it when 
he speaks upon subjects to which the other man does 
not refer? But we need not all this pleading on be- 
half of the Gospels : their spirit is one ; the whole 
tone is self-consistent ; and the moral energy of the 
doctrine renders it an easy responsibility to accept 
all the statements which relate to matters of fact. 

All that the author has said does not touch the 
starting-point, viz., the Incarnation. Even on his 
own principle of accrediting evidence it is not easy 
to see how he has overlooked this fact, for three out 
of four of the evangelists distinctly point out the 
supernatural descent of Jesus Christ, and Mark him- 
self introduces him at once as " the Son of God." 
The " rudiment of certainty " is surely here, even upon 
the author's own showing ; so that, without imputing 
any intentions to the author, we cannot but feel sur- 
prised that he has not found in Christ's Incarnation 
some explanation of Christ's life and work. We feel 
this the more because the writer has not been faithful 
to his own principle of interpretation. On the twelfth 
page of his Preface he speaks of himself as " resting 
upon a basis of absolutely uniform testimony," yet in 
the course of his work he reverts again and again, 
either by elaborate statement or distinct allusion, to 
cases which are not supported by any such testimony. 
16* 



370 ECCE DEUS. 

He lays down a principle, and immediately departs 
from it. For example, he refers to the Sermon on the 
Mount ; but where is the " basis of absolutely uniform 
testimony " in this case ? The Sermon is reported by 
two only of the four evangelists. The author draws 
a beautiful picture of the circumstances connected 
with the woman taken in adultery ; but where is the 
"basis of absolutely uniform testimony" in her case? 
The instance is related by one only of the four evan- 
gelists. So also in the case of Zaccheus, which the 
author brings into special prominence, we have the 
testimony of one evangelist only ; yet the author speaks 
of " resting upon a basis of absolutely uniform testi- 
mony." The same remark applies to Nicodemus, on 
whose case the author remarks. What we have to 
complain of is, that the writer of Ecce Homo has laid 
down a principle and then practically abandoned it. 
He has, indeed, referred to what he terms " inferior 
evidence," but this does not touch the ground of com- 
plaint. For example, he says that " the account of 
the woman taken in adultery has scarcely any external 
authority, but it seems to derive great probability from 
the fact that the conduct attributed to Christ in it is 
left half explained, so that, as it stands, it does not 
satisfy the impulses which lead to the invention and 
reception of fictitious stories." It would seem, then, 
that a case needs only to be " half explained " in order 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON '* ECCE HOMO." 3^1 

to get credit for " great probability," and if the invent- 
or be unable to finish his fiction, so much more likely 
is he to be accepted as an honest man. If the author's ' 
principle of eclecticism was sound, he ought not to 
have departed from it ; if he departed from it at all, he 
should have given preference to the greater, and not 
to the minuter incidents, — to such an event as the 
Incarnation in preference to the invitation which the 
guests refused ; but his principle failed in its practi- 
cal application, so that " absolutely uniform testi- 
mony" has been supplemented by cases which rest 
upon individual authority. 



No formal epilogue is attempted. We thought that 
the dual element that was in Jesus Christ was of great 
significance ; so great, indeed, that apart from it his 
life could not be interpreted. Throughout the whole 
inquiry this has been kept steadily in view ; with what 
advantage it is for others to determine. We have 
endeavored to find out God, through a study of his 
Son. We understand what this means in human life ; 
if we would know any man of deep character, who is 
not immediately self-revealing, we shall make the 
surest progress by carefully studying the disposition 
and habits of the child who most resembles him. To 
study the father through the child is like studying a 
foreign language alphabetically, grammatically, and 
analytically, — not catching it in common conversa- 



372 ECCE DEUS. 

tion so as to be merely able to express an opinion or a 
want, but penetrating it philosophically, and so be- 
coming master of it. To get through the wrinkles 
and folds of the father's mature character may be im- 
possible, but the child is open, simple, legible in every 
letter ; — from him we get the father's own start-point, 
and from the father we get the other extreme point. 
With the extremes before us, we may proceed to 
analysis and interpretation. Is it not much the same 
w r ith Jesus Christ? Emphatically, he was the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory and the express image of 
his person ; he was the Son only-begotten and well- 
beloved. To study him is to study God in his most 
legible aspect ; so to speak, the letters are large, and 
so formed as to arrest untrained eyes ; — mighty deeds, 
mightier words, and still mightier prayers. We see 
there how far God can come down on the human side, 
— how far he can be man without ceasing to be God ; 
and it was so far, that he who had seen the Son had 
actually seen the Father ! 

To-day the great question that is stirring men's 
hearts to their very depths is, Who is this Jesus Christ? 
His life is becoming to us a new life, as if we had 
never seen a word of it. There is round about us an 
influence so strange, so penetrating, so subtle, yet so 
mighty, that we are obliged to ask the great heaving 
world of time to be silent for a while, that we may 
see just what we are and where we are. That in- 
fluence is the life of Jesus Christ. We cannot get 
clear of it ; we hear it in the tones of joy, we feel 
it stealing across the darkness of sorrow, — we see it 
where we least expect it, — even men who have trav- 



CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON " ECCE HOMO." 373 

elled farthest from it seem only to' have come round 
to it again ; and while they have been undervaluing 
the inner worth of Jesus Christ, they have actually 
been living on the virtue which came out of the hem 
of his garment. Yes ; it seems we must touch him 
either at the heart or the hem, — if we will not have 
him for the soul, we must have him for the body. 
What if men reject him altogether? Then, as of old, 
there is no choice for them but Barabbas, and Barab- 
bas is still a robber. We see the alternative. Pilate 
still puts the question — " Whom will ye that I release 
unto you ? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?" 
The voice of the people was once for the robber ; il 
will yet be lifted up, never more to change, for the 
Son of God. 



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the presence of Genius, which cannot easily be defined, but which makes itself 
surely felt in a glow of delight such as makes the old world young again. 
Here is the power to fill common earthly facts with heavenly fire ; a power to 
gladden wisely and to sadden nobly ; to shake the heart, and bring moist tears 
into the eyes, through which the spirit may catch its loftiest light," — London 
Atheneeum. 

" It would be a great injustice to confound this volume with the mass of so- 
called poetry. ... It contains something more than commonplace thoughts 
clothed in tolerably pretty words. Nor is her volume, like too many of those 
of even the more tolerable verse-writers of the day, made up of a mass of com- 
parative rubbish, relieved here and there by an isolated piece, to which it is not 
impossible conscientiously to award praise. One of the most striking charac- 
teristics of Miss Ingelow's poems is the remarkable evenness of their quality ; 
and there is nothing in her volume which may not fairly claim to be regarded 
good. . . . Miss Ingelow's volume can scarcely fail to win for itself a warm 
welcome from all lovers of true poetry, and warrants us in anticipating that 
she will at some future time take a permanent place among English poets."— 
London Spectator, 

Studies for Stories 

By MISS INGELOW. 
A Book for Young People. 

1 vol. i6mo. Cloth. Price, $1.75. 
I 



Messrs. Roberts Brothers' List 



Poems, 

By DAVID GRAY. 

With an Introductory Notice by Lord Houghton (R. M. 
Milnes), Memoir of the Author, and Final Memorials, 

i vol. i6mo. Vellum and Fancy Cloth, gilt top. Price, $ 1.5a 

" I will not here assume the position of a poetical critic, both because I know 
such criticism to be dreary and unsatisfactory, and because I am conscious that 
the personal interest I took in David Gray is likely in some degree to influence 
my judgment. There is in truth no critic of poetry but the man who enjoys it, 
and the amount of gratification felt is the only just measure of criticism. I be- 
lieve, however, that I should have found much pleasure in these Poems if I 
had met with them accidentally, and if I had been unaware of the strange 
and pathetic incidents of their production. But the public mind will not 
separate the intrinsic merits of the verses from the story of the writer, any 
more than the works and fate of Keats or of Chatterton ; we value all con- 
nected with the being of every true Poet, because it is the highest form of 
nature that man is permitted to study and enjoy." — Lord Houghton (i?. 
M. Milnes). 

" And David's poetry ? We have said that it is yet too early to estimate 
that at its true value ; but it can never be read apart from the brief story of the 
writer. More than most men did David interweave his own personal joys and 
sufFerings with the text of his ambitious verse. He was far too self-absorbed 
to possess dramatic power. His writings, however, have a pathos and an 
earnestness which we frequently look for in vain in the books of greater men." 
— Robert Buchanan. 

" The poems of this ill-fated and winsome young Scotchman, heart-brother 
of Robert Burns, are marked by rare tenderness and sincerity, and by that 
fascinating felicity of verbal touch which is one of the choicest characteristics 
of true genius. Such a pure and pathetic story, such lucid and breathing 
poetry as we have here, are charged with a blessed ministry for a coarse and 
bustling age, for a reckless utilitarian people. The feelings of love, pity, and 
grief this little book is calculated to awaken will exert a salutary influence, 
softening the heart, nourishing human sympathy and poetic sentiment" — 
Rev. W.R.Alger 



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Poetry of the Orient. 

By WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER. 

i voL i6mo. Cloth extra, gilt top. Price, $ 1.75. 

This is a complete Introduction to Oriental Poetiy in all its 
families and departments ; from the great epics of India, Persia, 
and Arabia, to their innumerable varieties of lyrical, descriptive, 
and aphoristic verse. It gives a critical account of the chief 
Eastern authors and their works, and illustrates them by hun- 
dreds of specimens. It is the only work of the kind in our lan- 
guage ; and as such, no less than from its intrinsic merits, it 
possesses a unique value and charm. 

"Its characterizations of (he different branches of Eastern poetry are re- 
markably happy and accurate." — H. H. Wilson, late President of tJte Royal 
Asiatic Society. 

" It is full of wisdom and beauty." — John G. Whitier. 

" Extraordinary sentences for extraordinary readers." — Ralj>h Waldo Em- 
erson. 

" The modesty, enthusiasm, and interest of this book will keep it fresh and 
valuable." — George William Curtis. 

"A golden volume, replete with sage thoughts and memorable sayings, — a 
costly anthology, in which every specimen is either rich or strange." — Fred- 
erick H. Hedge. 

" It will richly repay study to all who can find benefit in change of mental 
aliment, and who are willing to be led by a scholarly hand through the gor- 
geous and crowded Athenaeum of Eastern literature." — T. Starr King. 

"A masterpiece of Oriental scholarship." 

" It reveals to our reading world a tiew realm of incomparable fascina- 



Messrs, Roberts Brothers' List. 



Poems. 

By CHARLES SWAIN. 

z voL With a fine Portrait from a recent Photograph, engraved by 
Smith. Blue and gold. Price, $ 1.25 

This edition of Charles Swain's Poems embraces, in addition 
to the best poems in the different volumes published in England, 
several pieces which are now printed for the first time. There 
are upwards of three hundred songs, many of them so well known 
as to be almost "household words" throughout the land. 

" Many of his songs have been wafted by their own aerial sweetness across 
the sea; and his felicitous description of Scott's funeral, (Dryburgh Abbey,) 
attended by a procession of the romancer's immortal characters, is too 
graphic a tribute to genius not to be recalled with delight" — H. T. Tucker- 
man. 

BULWER LYTTON'S 

Dramas and Poems. 

x vol. With fine Portrait on steel, by Schoff. Blue and gold. 
Price, $ 1.25. 

Containing the Dramas of The Lady of Lyons, Richelieu, 
and Money, and Minor Poems. 

" No living English writer is more read on the continent of Europe than Bul- 
wer. His works have been translated into nearly all the living languages of 
Europe." — New American Cyclopedia. 

The Seer; 

Or, COMMON-PLACES REFRESHED. 
By LEIGH HUNT. 

2 vols. i6mo. Turkey Cloth, gilt top. 
Price, $3.00. 

It has been the aim of the Publishers, in producing this elegant 
library edition of " The Seer," to meet the wants of the many 
American admirers of this genial essayist. 



Messrs. Roberts Brothers' List. 5 

MEMOIRS OF MY LIFE AND WRITINGS. 

By EDWARD GIBBON 
(the historian). 

1 vol. i6mo. Cloth, gilt. Price, $ 1.50. [In Press.) 

Every reader of the Historian will be glad to possess themselves 
of tliis neat edition of his Memoirs, which is not only a model for 
simplicity of style, but is a complete picture of his talents, his dis- 
position, his studies, and his attainments. 

Heaven our Home. 

WE HAVE NO SAVIOUR BUT JESUS, AND NO HOME 
BUT HEAVEN. 

Crown 8vo. Cloth, extra. Price, % 1.25. 

Opinions of the English Press. 

" The author of the volume before us endeavors to describe what heaven is, 
as shown by the light of reason and Scripture ; and we promise the reader 
many charming pictures of heavenly bliss, founded upon undeniable authority, 
and described with the pen of a dramatist, which cannot fail to elevate the 

soul as well as to delight the imagination Part Second proves, in 

a manner as beautiful as it is convincing, the doctrine of the recognition of 
friends in heaven, — a subject of which the author makes much, introducing 
many touching scenes of Scripture celebrities meeting in heaven and discours- 
ing of their experience on earth. Part Third demonstrates the interest which 
those in heaven feel in earth, and proves with remarkable clearness that such 
an interest exists not only with the Almighty and among the angels, but also 
among the spirits of departed friends. We unhesitatingly give our opinion, that 
this volume is one of the most delightful productions of a religious character 
which has appeared for some time ; and we would desire to see it pass into ex- 
tensive circulation." — Glasgow Herald. 

" This work gives positive and social views of heaven, as a counteraction to 
the negative and unsocial aspects in which the subject is so commonly pre- 
sented." — English Churchman. 



Messrs. Roberts Brothers' List. 



"Amid the works proceeding from an overteeming press, our attention has 
been arrested by the perusal of the above-named production, which, it seems, 
is wending its way daily among persons of all denominations. Certainly 
* Heaven our Home,' whoever may be the author, is no common production." 
— A irdrie A dvertiser. 

" In boldness of conception, startling minuteness of delineation, and origi- 
nality of illustration, this work, by an anonymous author, exceeds any of the 
kind we have ever read." — John O 'Groat Journal. 

"We are not in the least surprised at so many thousands of copies of this 
anonymous writer's being bought up. We seem to be listening to a voice and 
language which we never heard before. Matter comes at command ; words 
flow with unstudied ease ; the pages are full of life, light, and force ; and the 
result is a stirring volume, which, while the Christian critic pronounces it free 
from affectation, even the man of taste, averse to evangelical religion, would 
admit to be exempt from * cant.' " —London Patriot. 

" The name of the author of this work is strangely enough withheld 

A social heaven, in which there will be the most perfect recognition, inter- 
course, fellowship, and bliss, is the leading idea of the book, and it is discussed 
in a fine genial spirit." — Caledonian Mercury. 



Meet for Heaven. 

A STATE OF GRACE UPON EARTH THE ONLY PREPARATION 
FOR A STATE OF GLORY IN HEAVEN. 

By the Author of " Heaven our Home." 

Crown 8vo. Cloth, extra. Price, $ 1.25. 

Opinions of the English Press. 
" This forms a fitting companion to ' Heaven our Home,' — a volume which 
has been circulated by thousands, and which has found its way into almost 
every Christian family." — Scottish Press. 

" What we shall be hereafter, — whether our glorified souls will be like unto 
our souls here, or whether an entire change in their spiritual and moral con- 
dition will be effected after death, — these are questions which occupy our 
thoughts, and to these the author has principally addressed himself." — Cam- 
bridge University Chronicle. 



Messrs. Roberts Brothers List. 



"The author, in his or her former work, 'Heaven our Home,' portrayed a 
Social Heaven, where scattered families meet at last in loving intercourse and 
in possession of perfect recognition, to spend a never-ending eternity of peace 
and love. In the present work the individual state of the children of God is 
attempted to be unfolded, and, more especially, the state of probation which is 
set apart for them on earth to fit and prepare erring mortals for the society of 
the saints. .... 

" The work, as a whole, displays an originality of conception, a flow of 
language, and a closeness of reasoning, rarely found in religious publica- 
tions. . . . 

" The author combats the pleasing and generally-accepted belief that death 
will effect an entire change of the spiritual condition of our souls, and that all 
who enter into bliss will be placed on a common level." — Glasgow Herald. 

"A careful perusal of this book will make it a less easy thing for a man to 
cheat himself into the notion that death will effect, not a mere transition and 
improvement, but an entire change in his moral and spiritual state. The 
dangerous nature of this delusion is exhibited with great power by the author 
of ' Meet for Heaven.' " — Stirling Observer, 

11 This, like the former volume, ' Heaven our Home,' by the same anony- 
mous author, is a very remarkable book. Often as the subject has been 
handled, both by ancient and modern divines, it has never been touched with 
a bolder or a more masterly hand." — John O 'Groat Journal. 



Life in Heaven. 

THERE, FAITH IS CHANGED INTO SIGHT, AND HOPE IS 
PASSED INTO BLISSFUL FRUITION. 

A New Work by the Author of "Heaven our Home," and 
"Meet for Heaven." 

Crown 8vo. Cloth, extra. Prfce, $ 1.25. 

This new work is a companion volume tD " Heaven our Home," 
and " Meet for Heaven," and embraces a subject of very great 
interest, which has not been included in these volumes. 

The two works above mentioned have already attained In Eng- 
land the large sale of 100,000 copies. 



